Parliament Demonstration Triggers Nuclear Alert

We are getting wind of a radioactive situation over at Parliament. Apparently three Russians in Budapest to protest Hungary's export of nuclear waste to Russia were detained earler today by the police along with their Hungarian translator after showing up with a box of soil and a bottle of water that officials feared were radioactive. According to a news brief on Reuters, security forces closed off the public areas around the historic building and took the demonstrators into custody on the basis of the fact that they did not have a permit to demonstrate, either with or without unlicensed nuclear materials.

Meanwhile, a statement by the police that the protestors' props were benign was contradicted by a report on Russia's Ekho Moskvy Radio, which said that the Russians were carrying samples of radioactive soil, water and cattle horns from the area where Hungary ships off its spent fuel rods. Apparently they wanted to present the "gifts" to Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, to convince him to stop shipping toxic waste to their region of the Urals. No word if Gyurcsány agreed to accept the offerings, or if he is instead nominating one of his doomed ministers for the honors. In the meantime, we encourage everyone in Hungary not to panic, at least not totally.