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full screen Tens of thousands of people gathered in Budapest. Photo: Justin Spike/AP/TT
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Hungarian Budapest to protest against the country’s government and show their support for Orbán critic Péter Magyar.
– We will take back our country step by step, and brick by brick we will build a sovereign, modern Hungary, Magyar said in front of cheering supporters.
He was formerly part of the country’s leading Fidesz party, but now says he will soon announce the creation of a new political party to stand in June’s EU and local elections.
The 43-year-old Magyar was previously married to the country’s former justice minister Judit Varga, and promises to challenge Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s “power factory”.
Varga and Hungary’s former president Katalin Novák resigned earlier this year amid anger over the pardoning of a man linked to sex crimes against children.
In Hungary, various measures in recent years have been widely accused of increasing the political control of the judiciary and limiting freedom of expression and association.