Anti-government protest in Hungary: Police arrest 3 demonstrators last night – Photos

Photo: MTI

Three demonstrators attacking the police line during an anti-government protest in Budapest have been arrested, the police website police.hu said late on Friday.

Budapest

Demonstrators gathered in front of the Parliament on the third day in a row to protest against changes to the labour code adopted on Wednesday.

Photo: MTI

Representatives of the parliamentary opposition Socialist, Jobbik, and Democratic Coalition parties, as well as the Momentum Movement, called for cooperation and further protests against the recent “slave law”.

Addressing a few hundred participants, Socialist board head Ágnes Kunhalmi warned that the government could “resort to banning the opposition” if ruling Fidesz wins the upcoming European Parliamentary elections.

Anna Donáth, deputy leader of the Momentum Movement, said that the government had “crossed all borders” with its recent amendment to the labour code, and insisted that the opposition must “take solidarity with all social groups”.

Photo: MTI

Conservative Jobbik’s Andrea Varga-Damm urged that

the government should be ousted and said that its members were “despots on the backs of the people” and that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is “surrounded by Rasputins”. She also said that the prime minister could “send the police and the military against the people any time”.

After the speeches participants in the protest left the square and set off in the direction of Margaret Bridge.

After the speeches 2-3 thousand demonstrators left Kossuth Square, marched round the city, then returned to Parliament.

Photo: MTI

Some of the crowd, including protesters wearing masks, pelted different objects at the riot police that formed several lines on the steps of Parliament to protect the building.

After repeated calls to stop the action, police used tear gas to disperse the crowd and arrested three men, police.hu said.

Police noted that during Wednesday and Thursday demonstrations 14 officers had been injured.

Anti-government demonstrators at Nyugati Railway Station on Friday

Photo: MTI

Pécs

In another development, anti-government protesters staged a torchlight demonstration in Pécs, in southern Hungary. Addressing the crowd, independent lawmaker Akos Hadhazy said that “now it is the time for action rather than speeches to destroy the house of cards built by the government.”