The Budapest demonstration began with a forum at the University of Technology, as organised by the national student councils group HOOK, backed by the Students Network and professors and teachers organisations.

The assembled crowd watched videos of Viktor Orban speaking out against tuition fees in 2004 and 2008.

Mate Abraham, a high school student from Budaors, said Orban, who had been invited to the demonstration, had stayed away because he was scared that he would meet his younger self there and that they would not recognise one another.

He recalled that Orban did not have to pay tuition fees or take out a student loan in order to become a lawyer and asked why present day youth do not have the same opportunity.

A large-scale poster read “The powers that be fear knowledge.”

Democratic Union of Teachers president Laszlo Mendrey praised 1995 finance minister Lajos Bokros, saying he at least dared to face students at the time and tried to explain why a monthly tuition fee of Ft 2,000 was needed.

High school students, parents and university instructors took part in the protest.

The demonstrators demanded the restoration of the number of state-supported places at universities as two years ago, a comprehensive reform of public and higher education and the abolition of students contracts.

The crowd then marched past the Economy Ministry en route to Kossuth ter. There, demonstrators demanded democracy and shouted such slogans as “You lied, Viktor”.

Police eventually formed a line and began to push the demonstrators back. The crowd broke up at about 9 p.m.

In Szeged protesting students pasted posters on the window of the Fidesz office as they urged local politicians to represent the interests of the city rather than those of the party.

The city’s university is the biggest employer in Szeged, providing 8,000 jobs, and providing an education to 30,000 students means a living for many more thousands of people, said Tamas Zsargo, head of the Szeged chapter of the Students Network.

The Fidesz office was closed due to illness, according to a sign on the door.

Organiser Gabor Medvegy said the transformation of the higher education system will have a number of harmful economic consequences, as it will increase unemployment and force talented young people to leave the country.

Similar gatherings in Nyiregyhaza and Sopron drew about 200 students each, while a smaller crowd collected at Szent Istvan University in Godollo.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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