Tens of thousands demonstrate in Budapest against Orbán’s education policy

Tens of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets of the capital, Budapest, on Sunday to demonstrate against the education policy of right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government.


File - File image of citizens protesting against the policies of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Budapest. - Ladislav Vallach/TASR/dpa© Provided by News 360

Daniel Stewart - Oct 23

According to the organizers, around 80,000 people have gathered, including students, teachers and union leaders. The march ended in front of the Budapest University of Applied Sciences.

The demonstrators have demanded nine measures for the sector, including better salaries for teachers, curricula without ideology and the right of educators to strike, reports 'HVG', which has broadcast the demonstration.

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Sunday's protest was also directed against the control exercised by the government over the state media and a large part of the private media, as well as against Orbán's good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, reports the DPA agency.

This Sunday, Orbán criticized those who "shoot from the shadows and the heights of Brussels" against Hungary and warned that "they will end up in the same place as their predecessors", in reference to the Soviet Union.

"Let's not worry about those who shoot at Hungary from the shadows of the heights of Brussels," Orbán has stated during an event for the anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, militarily put down by the Soviet Union, and has warned that "they will end up in the same place as their predecessors."

"We are tolerant when we have to be and we fight back when we can. We will draw our swords if the opportunity arises and we will resist the long years of oppression that may come," he said.