Hungary erupts in protest after PM Viktor Orbán is accused of assault on democracy

Hungary’s parliament is today expected to pass an amendment to its constitution which critics say will roll back democratic freedoms and weaken the judiciary.

This potentially puts the nation on a collision course with the EU after calls to postpone the vote were rebuffed.

Thousands of Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest over the weekend to protest the changes, which would allow the government to overrule objections from the Constitutional Court and push through measures including a ban on political campaigning in private media, a law requiring students who accept state scholarships to stay in Hungary and a ban on sleeping on the streets. “When they lay down in the constitution how those who have nowhere to go may or may not sleep on the street then we need to ask whether it’s us protesters who have gone crazy or those who write the constitution,” opposition activist Miklos Tamas Gaspar told protesters.

The Independent

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