The opposition Socialist Party expressed support for the protesters in an open letter, and said that Saturday’s demonstration was “about Hungary’s future”.

Radical nationalist Jobbik also voiced support for the teachers’ demands. Jobbik’s deputy group leader and head of parliament’s cultural committee Dóra Dúró attended the demonstration and said afterwards that the prime minister should “get off his high horse” and hear the voice of people that “want to see 21st century level education, health, and social sector” in Hungary.

Ferenc Gyurcsány, the leader of the leftist Democratic Coalition (DK), said the demonstration could give hope to many, because the government could not “divide or bribe” participants; “for a moment those teachers were teachers for the whole nation”.

Gyurcsány said that all demands of the protesters were aimed at reversing changes introduced after 2010, by the Fidesz government, and suggested that his administration before that period could no longer be blamed for current problems.

Tens of thousands of teachers, and 1.5 million children and parents think that education is heading in the wrong direction, he insisted. He added that the core of the problem was not the contested central school manager Klik. “The whole system is the problem, that the government treats nobody as equal partners”.

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MTI photo: Marjai János