Budapest (AFP) – A wave of anti-government protests in Hungary hit the country’s public broadcaster on Monday, with the opposition galvanised by the furious reaction to a controversial new labour law.
More protests were expected in the evening after two opposition MPs broadcast footage of themselves being thrown out of the Budapest offices of the MTVA broadcaster.
They had demanded access to the studios to read out a petition against the government and what they call its “slave” labour law.
MTVA security guards forcibly ejected independent MPs Akos Hadhazy and Bernadett Szel, sparking much criticism online.
Visibly shocked by their treatment, the two MPs immediately filed a complaint with police stationed in front of the building.
They said that as MPs they had a right to be on the premises of a public establishment and to airtime on the public broadcaster.
“This is not a private television station for Fidesz,” the party of rightwing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, “but the television of the Hungarian people, financed by the people’s taxes,” said the MPs, who streamed the altercation live on Facebook.
An anti-government protest on Sunday evening drew 15,000 people, after which Szel and Hadhazy went to the MTVA building among a group of a dozen lawmakers.
The petition they wanted to be broadcast includes a demand to overturn the labour law.
– ‘Government mouthpieces’ –
The new legislation relaxes restrictions on overtime work.
It has sparked almost daily protests — backed by the opposition — since it was adopted on Wednesday.
The petition also demanded the annulment of another controversial law adopted on the same day, which paves the way for new “administrative courts” to oversee cases concerning matters such as public procurement or electoral disputes.
Justice Minister Laszlo Trocsanyi, a close Orban ally, would oversee the courts. That has prompted warnings the premier could have near-total political influence over the judicial system.
The petition also calls for more independence and objectivity in Hungarian public media outlets, which the opposition deride as “government mouthpieces”.
It demands that Hungary join an EU public prosecutor’s office, a move the government has rejected.
After the TV station refused to broadcast the petition on Sunday evening, some protesters threw smoke bombs at police, who responded with tear gas.
Around 10 MPs from various opposition parties who also entered the MTVA building said they were still inside later on Monday, pressing staff to read out the petition.
They have been confined to a part of the first floor, with one MP saying a colleague was pushed to the floor for trying to go to another part of the building.
MEP Peter Niedermueller from the liberal DK party, himself inside the building, said the protest aimed was at “restoring the freedom of the press”.
“It’s ridiculous that the majority of the country doesn’t even know what’s happening in Budapest because public TV, on all its channels, is only talking about preparations for Christmas,” he said.
– Fresh protests expected –
Hadhazy announced that another demonstration would take place at 18:00 local time (17:00 GMT) in front of the MTVA building under the slogan: “If they throw us out the door, we’ll come back in through the window”.
The wave of anti-government protests in recent days has seen opposition parties from across the spectrum join forces against Orban’s government in a way not seen in recent years in Hungary.
Unions have also backed the demonstrations against the reforms, which hike the annual overtime hours that employers can demand from 250 to 400 hours and allow payment to be delayed by up to three years.
The government says the changes are needed by employers short of manpower and will benefit those wanting to work extra hours.
Over the weekend protestors also gathered in other parts of the country. In the third-biggest city Szeged the socialist mayor has called on businesses not to comply with the new overtime law.