For Saturday afternoon, a demonstration against the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban is announced in Hungary. It will be the first big action after the holidays and the demonstrations in December. At that time tens of thousands took to the streets because of labor law reform. The opposition is hoping for a new wave of protests.
In any case, the opposition and the union expect tens of thousands more to participate in the demonstration. According to the global security company GardaWorld, a protest march is planned from Budapest’s Heroes‘ Square to Kossuth Square, where Parliament is located. „Demonstrations are possible throughout the country,“ says a statement by GardaWorld. „Clashes between police and protesters can not be ruled out.“
Already during the protests in December last year riots and assaults took place on Kossuth Square. Demonstrators had thrown smoke grenades and bottles at the police. This again went with tear gas against the people. The police warned against unlawful acts and called on participants not to mask their faces. Only the last protests, where all the opposition parties were represented, were peaceful.
„Year of the Resistance“ announced in Hungary
The opposition, trade union and civil society organizations want to take the momentum of the old year to increase pressure on the right-wing conservative government. After the first demonstrations they smell their chance against Orban. After all, the reform of the Labor Law, which allows for an extension of overtime from 250 to 400 a year and the extension of the payment framework up to three years, has triggered the biggest wave of protests since Orban took office in 2010.
Demonstrators against Hungary’s Prime Minister Orban are shot at by the police with tear gas
On Thursday, opposition politicians in front of the Parliament building in Budapest have already announced that 2019 will be a „year of resistance“. „We will do that with the unity and cooperation of all opposition parties,“ it said. The parties – from the Social Democrats on the one hand to the radical right-wing Jobbik party on the other – emphasized the importance of their cooperation and made a „vow“ to fight for the realization of their five-point petition.
In addition to the withdrawal of labor law reform, they called for the reduction of police overtime, an independent judiciary, the accession of Hungary to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and independent public service media. „If the government of a country betrays its own people, then the time is ripe for mutiny,“ formulated the various political circles towards the governing party Fidesz. Orban himself described the wave of protests as „hysterical shouting“ that ruined Hungary.
„Are we in a democratic dictatorship?“
In an interview with the „Volksblatt“ in Linz, Orban’s former companion and today’s critic, Pastor Gabor Roszik, said that sometimes he thinks that Hungary is „worse than 30 years ago. We are in a democratic dictatorship. 30 years ago, we knew exactly who the enemy was. Today, we have a government that calls itself conservative and Christian Democrat, but violates all these principles, „said Roszik, who became the first independent candidate in the Hungarian parliament in 1989.
At that time Roszik was supported by the new founded FIDESZ, which was led by Orban. At that time, the prime minister was „clearly a liberal,“ according to the Protestant pastor. But Orban has changed, „from the Democrat to a new communist dictator“. The whole society was manipulated in such a way that many people would believe that everything was in order in Hungary. Roszik hopes the demonstrations will continue this year. He welcomes that the opposition parties are now working together.
Speaking to CNN, Hungarian political scientist Bulcsu Hunyadi, an analyst at Political Capital in Budapest, said it was the first time that the opposition had cracked down on Orban government laws, including outside parliament. Also new, according to the BBC and CNN, is that people are also involved in the demonstrations, which usually do not take part. The composition of the participants in the first protest in 2019 will be as questionable as their number.
