Budapest, Hungary – A massive protest in Hungary on Sunday attracted around 10,000 people in what some protesters called an act of resistance against the recent actions of the right -wing populist government to restrict basic rights and take measures in the independent media.
The protest, the last of a recent wave of anti -government manifestations, occurred days after a legislator of the Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s party presented a bill that would allow the government to monitor, restrict, penalize and potentially prohibit the media and non -governmental organizations that consider a threat to the sovereignty of the country.
The bill, which has been compared with Russian “foreign agent” lawIt is expected to happen in Parliament, where the ruler Party Fidesz has a two -thirds majority. Many of Orbán’s opponents see it as among the most repressive policies that the long -standing leader has leveled his critics in the last 15 years of his government.
The protesters filled the square next to the Hungarian Parliament in Budapest Central to denounce the bill, which would allow the government to organizations of the blacklist that receive any amount of financial support from external Hungary and submits them to intrusive monitoring, searches, important fines and possible prohibitions of their activities.
Politicians in the Orbán party, as well as the Sovereignty Protection OfficeA controversial government agency responsible for identifying alleged threats to the sovereignty of Hungary, has specifically identified numerous media and anti -corruption organizations that claim that they are attending foreign interests.
From a scenario in Sunday’s protest, President Jakab Toth said that the bill presented this week “is nothing more than a threat, a threat against people who can express their opinions clearly and free.”
Toth added that he believes that the government has the responsibility to protect the sovereignty of citizens to exercise freedom of expression and participate in public life. “If it does not belong to us all, if we are not all free, then sovereignty is the exclusive and exclusive sovereignty of the government,” he said.
Orbán, who show the surveys Face the most serious challenge until your power In the elections scheduled for next year, he said that foreign interests, mainly that originate in the United States and neighboring Ukraine, have tried to instrumentalize independent media and anti -corruption vigilantes in Hungary to influence public opinion with the aim of demolishing their government.
These organizations have vehemently denied such statements, and argued that the work they do is done to professional standards and in public interest.
Orbán has promulgated for years repressions at NGOs and Independent mediaApproving the laws that, according to critics, seek to stigmatize and obstruct groups that provide protection to women and minorities, offer legal assistance and human rights and expose official corruption.
These efforts increased in 2023 when the Orbán right -wing populist government launched the Sovereignty Protection Office, an authority responsible for investigating organizations and media that considers that it exerts foreign influence.
The bill presented last week describes a broad definition of what constitutes a threat to sovereignty. Organizations can be attacked if they oppose or portray negative values such as the democratic character of Hungary, national unity, traditional family structures or Christian culture, which suggests that even legitimate criticisms of government policy could be treated as a national security threat.
Sunday’s demonstration occurred after two and a half months of weekly protests against a Anti-LGBTQ+ Law approved in March that prohibited pride events and allows the authorities to use facial recognition software to identify people who attend the festivities.
The Hungary government has argued that its policies on LGBTQ+ rights are necessary to protect you from you call “gender madness.” But many critics believe that the measures were designed to cause animosity against sexual minorities and help Orbán mobilize their right -wing base before next year’s elections.
