Siege of the Communist HQ

An armed mob lays siege to the Budapest Communist Party Headquarters at Köztársaság Square (Today Pope John Paul II Square). In the ensuing chaos a military unit dispatched to quell the crowd joins the attack. After the secret police defending the building surrender and step outside, they are attacked by the mob, with some being shot and others being lynched. It is one of the darkest moments of the revolution and would be used by the later communist dictatorship for propaganda purposes despite belonging to only a handful of isolated incidents. According to the post-revolution official narrative this is when the movement became a counterrevolution.

Imre Nagy announces the end of the one party state, adding that a coalition government would be formed with the inclusion of democratic parties. Old political parties are revived and new ones are formed. János Kádár also joins the government. A Revolutionary Defense Committee is created to coordinate the National Guard.

Even later that day Cardinal József Mindszenty is freed from the house arrest he had been subjected to for years (the cardinal was moved from prison to house arrest over fears for his health and the political consequences should he die in prison).