Hungarians in New York City are joining a series of protests against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian and socially unjust government, under the slogan “Spring is coming – Orbán is going.” The protest aims to draw attention to dissatisfaction with Mr. Orbán, ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s official visit to Budapest on Monday. The New York protest is being held Sunday, February 1st, starting at 3:00 PM EST at the Fulton Ferry Landing, in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Júlia Standovár, one of the protest’s organizers, has asked each participant to show up with an orange.
“Enough! Enough of Orbán’s new taxes and austerity! Enough toll roads! Enough of politics that impoverish people! Enough of the dismantling of democracy! We will not allow the authorities to limit our rights to demonstrate! We must learn from the mistakes of the past 25 years, but first we have to unmask and break down Orbán’s mafia state,” reads the invitation to attend the NYC protest. The NYC demonstration, like the main protest to be held Sunday afternoon in Budapest, is being organized using Facebook and other social media sites. Protests are also being organized in Amsterdam, Berlin, Helsinki and Vienna.
The main demonstration in Budapest’s Kossuth Square is expected to draw over 10,000 participants. Thus far, over 14,000 Facebook users have confirmed that they will be present. Philosopher Ágnes Heller is slated to speak, as is Zoltán Kész, the opposition’s joint candidate in a by-election to be held in Veszprém on February 22nd. The Budapest protest is being coordinated by Balázs Gulyás, a young left-centre activist who also spearheaded last year’s anti-internet tax demonstrations.
A second, smaller Budapest protest is also being planned for Monday afternoon at 3:30 PM, in Budapest’s Mihály Polláck Square, where Ms. Merkel will be giving a speech at the Gyula Andrássy University.
Despite all the hype and media attention of the Merkel-visit on the part of the Hungarian opposition, the German chancellor is actually only staying in Budapest for five hours on Monday. Regardless, demonstrators on both Sunday and Monday hope to show to Ms. Merkel that the silent majority of Hungarians does not support the anti-western and anti-democratic policies of the Fidesz-KDNP regime.
NYC protest
