Orbán cabinet: The demonstration in Budapest was ‘illegitimate’

The demonstration in Budapest on Wednesday night against parliament’s changes to overtime regulations were “illegitimate”, where “aggressive political activists” also participated, Gergely Gulyás, the Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, told a regular press conference on Thursday.

Earlier on Wednesday,

parliament voted to extend the period employers may account overtime for the purpose of calculating wages and rest days from twelve months to three years, and to raise the upper threshold for annual overtime from 250 to 400 hours.

Regarding the opposition blocking the house speaker’s dais and obstructing proceedings with loud whistling and shouting in a bid to thwart the vote, Gulyás said that they “made themselves ridiculous”.

The ruling majority preserved parliament’s dignity by ensuring lawful and constitutional operations, he said.

The legality of the parliamentary voting system, which some opposition lawmakers seemed to cast doubt on during the protest, is beyond any reasonable doubt, he said.

Regarding street demonstrations against the overtime regulations later that day, Gulyás said that the right to free association was enshrined in the constitution. However, it should be practiced peacefully and within the legal limits, he said. Read more about the demonstration and check out photos videos HERE.

Gulyás said that Wednesday’s protests, where the crowd filled Kossuth Square in front of Parliament and threw objects at the police cordon, was “illegitimate”. Among the participants there were aggressive political activists, including members of American financier “George Soros’s organisations”, he insisted.

Some of the demonstrators “showed open hatred for Christians”, Gulyás added.

So far, the police have arrested 34 people, and 5 police officers suffered injuries during the protests, he said.

Concerning the new labour amendment, Gulyás said that “contrary to what the opposition says, any overtime work will only be done on a voluntary basis” and insisted that the legal maximum for overtime did not exceed “the practice of other European countries”. He said that employers would be obliged to settle payments for overtime work each month and added that suggestions of a six-day working week “are lies”.

Answering a question, Gulyás said that the government had not discussed the overtime regulations with any company. The new rules have not been met with “any tangible resistance from society”, the only protest coming from the opposition “which now throws away the basic rules of democracy” and which is “more and more aggressive as its support is dwindling”, he said.