Jobbik welcomes ‘nationwide opposition’, Fidesz blames protesters for causing damage to Parliament

The recent protest staged by opposition deputies at public media headquarters was a sign of a “nationwide opposition” rather than cooperation between the parliamentary opposition parties, György Szilágyi, MP of conservative Jobbik, said at a press conference held on a different subject on Wednesday.

Péter Jakab, another Jobbik MP, said that the government has “created a situation in which there is a right side and there is a wrong one”. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is on the “wrong” side against the people supporting the protesters’ demands, he insisted.

The deputies denied having disturbed the operations of the public media; on the contrary, “regular operations should have been restored through dropping lies and broadcasting the demonstrators’ demands”.

The two MPs said that nobody was willing to talk to them at the media headquarters and criticised the police for failing to protect the deputies against security staff. Jakab said that the deputies were “doing their job” while security guards “aggressively” prevented them from performing an inspection of the facility.

Finally, Jakab called on President János Áder to veto the “slave law” on labour changes, the recent passage of which elicited the protests.

On the other hand, Fidesz beleives that the damage caused to Parliament and adjacent Kossuth Square in recent protests adds up to “millions of forints” (HUF 1m = EUR 3,000).

Zoltán Szilágyi said they had no exact figure because the damage was still being assessed, but said that two stained glass and several plain windows had been smashed, the stairs to the main entrance had been sprayed with paint, while the bronze lion figures and candelabra on either side of the entrance were tainted with paint and eggs. “Parliament’s wall also has innumerable spots of paint or eggs, as well as burn marks,” he said, adding that “the mast of the flag of the nation was also spray-painted”.

Photo: MTI

Szilágyi said that the protesters had dismantled the fence around the nation’s Christmas tree in Kossuth Square, constructed of sledges meant to be given to needy children,; 22 sledges were missing and the tree’s lights were damaged.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI