Budapest at a standstill, thousands march against Erdogan, Orbán, Putin

The waitress in our favorite restaurant was livid. “I had to take a cab to get to work today because public transportation was shut down” – she complained. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was visiting Budapest on November 7 with massive closures throughout the city all day. Budapest came to a standstill.

Thousands marched against the Turkish President’s visit, many carried signs urging the ouster of the “dictators” – Erdogan, Orbán and Putin.

Andrássy Avenue was cleared of cars and passengers, the long and busy artery of the capital was completely empty. Older citizens of Budapest remarked that Mátyás Rákosi Hungary’s Stalinist dictator used to travel with his entourage on completely empty streets carefully checked by the Communist secret service. That was 70 years ago and nobody expected that authoritarian rule would return.

György Lázár

Photos by György Lázár

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