Hungary’s ‘slave law’ sparks fierce protests

Opposition MPS thrown out of television station as thousands take to streets and call for Orban to go

VIKTOR Orban, the populist prime minister of Hungary, is facing a rare challenge to his grip on power as protesters demand an end to controversial labour reforms and what they call his assault on democracy.

Budapest, the Hungarian capital, has been rocked by near-daily protests since the country’s parliament adopted a bill liberalising overtime rules on Wednesday. Opposition MPS have called for the prime minister to go.

As part of the reform, which critics have dubbed “the slave law”, employers would be allowed to delay payment for overtime for up to three years.

Several thousand people gathered outside the offices of the state television broadcaster, MTVA, on the fifth night of protests, after two opposition MPS were filmed being physically thrown out of the building.

Akos Hadhazy and Bernadett Szel, who wanted the station to broadcast a list of campaigners’ demands, called a protest in response, under the slogan: “They threw us out the door, but we’ll go back in through the windows.” Mrs Szel, who filed a complaint with the police, said: “We knew this was no longer a democracy, but we did not know it was already a dictatorship.”

The demonstrations peaked on Sunday night, when up to 15,000 people, chanting “we want democracy” and “we want free media”, gathered outside parliament.

Half a dozen opposition MPS, including Mr Hadhazy and Mrs Szel, led several thousand demonstrators on a march to the offices of MTVA. Some members of the crowd threw smoke bombs and paint when the station refused to broadcast their demands. Riot police responded with tear gas.

The demands included the repeal of the labour law and a controversial judicial reform that was passed on the same day, which paves the way for new “administrative courts” to oversee cases concerning matters such as public procurement or electoral disputes.

Opposition leaders said it would grant Mr Orban near total control of the judicial system because Laszlo Trocsanyi, the justice minister and a close ally of the prime minister, would oversee the courts.

They are also demanding police reforms and editorial impartiality at the country’s state media outlets.

The government says the labour reform, which increases the annual overtime that employers can demand from 250 to 400 hours, is needed by companies short of manpower.