Large crowd gathered at the anti-government demonstration in Budapest
Civil organisations and teacher and student movements held a protest demanding freedom in education in Budapest on Monday.
The protesters gathered in Heroes’ Square and also demanded higher wages for teachers before marching in streets around Andrassy Street and down to Oktogon.
The demonstrators waving national, European Union and Ukrainian flags stopped outside Kölcsey Ferenc High School, from which five teachers were forced to quit their jobs last September. Here, Bence Tóth related how he left public education after discovering that his colleagues had been sacked.
He insisted that the government was uninterested in finding a solution to problems afflicting public education, adding that Sándor Pintér, the minister of interior who is also responsible for education, had conceded that he did not understand the sector.
On the way to Oktogon, the marchers stopped in front of the Russian embassy building and tied ribbons in the national colours on the embassy fence.
Karácsony: ‘We won’t compromise on Hungary becoming a republic’
Addressing a demonstration on the anniversary of Hungary’s 1956 uprising in downtown Budapest on Monday, Gergely Karácsony, the city’s mayor, said: “We won’t compromise on our country one day becoming a republic, the common home of free and equal citizens.”
At the event held at Oktogon, Karácsony vowed to form an alliance of the opposition parties in Budapest for next year’s local elections.
“October 23 is the celebration of the republic, of the republic born out of the revolution of 1956, of the Third Hungarian Republic established on October 23, 1989, and of the Fourth Republic we carry in our hearts,” Karácsony said.
“Living in a republic means striving to treat each other well,” the mayor said, adding this was the kind of homeland the heroes of 1956 had wanted.
As we wrote before, the TanÃtanék Movement was awarded EP’s European Citizens Prize, details HERE.
As we wrote today, Orbán: ‘Moscow a tragedy; Brussels bad contemporary parody’ – UPDATE
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