Tens of thousands of people protested against the government again in downtown Budapest. Led by hopeful Magyar, they demanded Prime Minister Orban’s resignation.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in the square in front of the Hungarian Parliament in Budapest this afternoon to demonstrate against Prime Minister Viktor Orban. They waved Hungarian flags, some shouted “Orban get out” and “We are not afraid.”
They also came to listen to Peter Magyar, who wants to challenge Orban. Until recently, the 43-year-old lawyer was a bourgeois conservative from the ranks of Orban’s Fidesz party. But in February, Magyar rose to prominence when he revealed details about the government’s inner workings. He called Orban’s Hungary a mafia state and presented evidence of this. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating several cases.
Magyar hopes for at least ten percent
The trigger for the protests and probably also for Magyar’s entry into politics was the scandal surrounding the pardon of an accomplice of a school principal who was accused of sexual violence against children. President Katalin Novak resigned as a result, and former Justice Minister Judit Varga had to forego Fidesz’s top candidacy for the European elections. But those weren’t really responsible, said Magyar, who was married to Varga.
Since he turned against the Fidesz party. he collects followers. It is expected that Magyar will find a small opposition party with which he can run for the European elections. According to the latest surveys, at least ten percent trust him.
With information from Wolfgang Vichtl, ARD Studio Vienna