THOUSANDS RALLY TO SUPPORT SOROS UNIVERSITY

Hungarians held one of the biggest demonstrations yet against Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, calling for the rejection of legislation on universities that has drawn rebukes from the U. S., Germany and some of the world’s top schools. About 60,000 people attended the rally in Budapest on Sunday, Index news website cited organizers as saying. Demonstrators are seeking to dissuade President Janos Ader from signing into law legislation passed by parliament this week that Central European University, the Budapest-based school founded by investor and philanthropist George Soros, said was aimed at shutting it down. Orban has ignored earlier street protests and criticism from the opposition and a number of Hungary’s European Union and NATO allies, over the law. While the government denies the legislation is targeted at CEU, Orban regularly blames Hungarian- born Soros, who also funds organizations that seek to promote human rights and government transparency, for trying to undermine him.