Former PM Gyurcsány calls for resistance to government

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) staged a demonstration urging “resistance” to government policies on Tuesday afternoon, in the aftermath of the European Parliament adopting the Sargentini report that criticised the state of the rule of law in Hungary last week.

“Hungary is under dictatorial rule,” DK leader Ferenc Gyurcsány said at the event near Parliament. Resistance, he said, should be aimed at “nothing less” than holding a general election under new and fair rules.

Gyurcsány, a former prime minister, called for a fight so that the incumbent government should find its “rightful place, namely the hell of Hungarian history.”

He told the crowd of a few hundred people that ruling Fidesz had exerted full control over Hungary’s banking system, public prosecution and the courts, and had taken possession over what has remained of state-owned arable land. It has also put education, health care and churches under its full control, and eliminated press freedom, Gyurcsány said. He also accused Fidesz of having established a new election system under “a one-party dictate”.