Hungarian protestors in Budapest threw stones and bottles at police, set fire to cars and stormed the headquarters of the state television station on Monday night after a leaked tape recording surfaced with Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany saying he had lied to get votes in the last election.

Some 50 demonstrators and 102 police were injured in the riots according to state news agency MTI. By Tuesday morning the streets were calm again. The demonstration against him by 10,000 people in the capital had been peaceful initially but later turned violent.

Reports said there were many far-right nationalists among the protestors.

The demonstrators occupied the basement of the television headquarters and forced it off the air for 80 minutes as they demanded unsuccessfully that their own political message be transmitted. Thousands of people also demonstrated in other Hungarian cities. Police used teargas and water cannon to try to contain the riots.

"We have to contain that conflict and prevent crisis," Gyurcsany told MTI. He called a crisis meeting of the cabinet for Tuesday morning and vowed to remain in power despite calls for him to step down after his words "We lied morning, noon and night" about the economy to win the election were leaked to media.

The recordings were made in May at a closed-door meeting of the ruling Socialist Party (MZSP) after Gyurcsany's government became the first in post-communist Hungary to win re-election the month before. It appeared to confirm the accusations levelled at him by the center-right opposition during the campaign, that Hungary's state budget was on the verge of collapse and that Gyurcsany and his ministers were concealing the truth to win the election.

After the election on April 23 his left-wing coalition announced a series of unpopular measures including tax hikes and cuts in tax breaks. Gyurcsany on Sunday confirmed that the tape was authentic. The main right of centre opposition Fidesz party as well as the smaller Hungarian Democratic Forum have said he should resign. Tibor Navracsics, a member of the Fidesz party leadership, said a "moral crisis" was unfolding.

According to one snap opinion poll of 500 people on Monday, 43 percent of people thought Gyurcsany should resign immediately, while 47 percent said he should stay and 10 percent had no opinion.