In Hungary, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against Viktor Orban’s government

Opponents of the Hungarian Prime Minister gathered in Budapest, the country’s capital.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Budapest on Saturday April 6, in support of a former close friend of the ruling team who has become a critic of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and who intends to challenge the nationalist leader. The demonstration was called by lawyer Peter Magyar, who has shaken up Hungarian politics since he came to the forefront, in the wake of the scandal sparked in February by a presidential pardon in a child abuse case.

A crowd of about 100 000 people responded to his call, on Kossuth Square in Budapest, in front of the Parliament, AFP journalists noted. Many brandished the national colors and signs on which it was possible to read: “The Hungarians are rising!” “We will take back our country step by step, and brick by brick we will build a sovereign and modern Hungary”Peter Magyar said to the crowd.

A new party launched for the Europeans

The lawyer said he would soon announce the creation of a new party, which will run in the European and local elections in June. Peter Magyar, 43, is the ex-husband of Mr. Orban’s former justice minister, Judit Varga, who was forced to withdraw from public life following the scandal over the presidential pardon granted to a convicted man in a child molestation case, who was released from prison.

Long in the orbit of the ruling party, Fidesz, Peter Magyar then separated from it, pledging to challenge “the power factory” by Viktor Orban. Last month, he released a recording purporting to implicate a senior minister in a high-profile corruption case, and called on the attorney general to resign.