October 23. The demonstrators who gathered at the monument to Józef Bem next march towards the buildings of Parliament.  Imre Nagy addresses the crowd. However, his general and vague statements fail to calm the moods. In the evening the secretary of the Hungarian Labour Party (MDP) — Ernö Gerö, refers to the demonstrators in  his radio address as the enemies of the nation. This arouses the anger of people demonstrating near the radio station’s building. They seize weapons from soldiers and militiamen. A shootout ensues between the demonstrators and the security service (AVH) functionaries. People get killed and wounded.

The Central Committee of the Hungarian Labour Party entrusts the post of prime minister to Imre Nagy.  

On the night of October 24/25 Soviet troops appear in the streets of Budapest.

Sandor Kopacsi (head of Budapest’s police):

   We saw a column of T-34 tanks which, with turret hatches shut, were moving noisily and firing at everything that was illuminated. It is hard to describe the terror that we felt when the turret of the first tank started turning in the direction of our building situated in Tanacs boulevard. Everybody started shouting: “The light! The light!”  The light in our headquarters was switched off but not before a machine-gun burst had swept over the front wall of the building studding it with bullets. [...]

   The third or fourth column of tanks was moving at full speed below our windows when suddenly its rear tank stopped due to the problems with towing a mortar. The hatch of the turret moved up and a soldier emerged and jumped heavily to the ground. It was clear that he intended to adjust the tow-rope. [...]

   One of the windows in the buildings along Anker passage opened with a bang. We heard the burst of a shot and the Soviet soldier fell down with his back to the ground. Immediately afterwards we heard two or three detonations. These were bottles with gasoline which, thrown from the windows of the upper floors, exploded around the tank.