The torch-lit demonstration was held at the headquarters of ruling Fidesz near Heroes Square and attended by 1,000 to 1,500 protesters.

Addressing the event, Jobbik leader Gábor Vona greeted the representatives of civil groups and other parties including Péter Juhász, leader of opposition Együtt, and András Fekete-Győr, leader of the Momentum party founded this year.

Vona said that although the protesters held different views about the world, they were bound together “by the love of freedom”.

The Jobbik leader said “it is not by accident that Viktor Orbán always pretends to be a freedom fighter while in reality he is stealing our freedom as a petty and coward thief”. “But we will not be a servant to either the Turks, the Germans, the Russians or Viktor Orbán,” Vona said.

He said that under Orbán’s regime “taxpayers’ money has ceased to be public money, the media has lost its freedom, civil groups have lost their independence and now Jobbik, the strongest opposition party, is about to be liquidated”, making reference to an ÁSZ investigation.

ÁSZ has accused Jobbik of having accepted over 330 million forints (over EUR 1m) in illegal financing and the party is facing a fine by the watchdog. Vona said that the motivation behind levying a fine which he earlier said was around 660 million forints was “to sentence democracy to death”.

The Jobbik leader accused the prime minister of being interested in nothing else but “power and soccer”.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Balogh Zoltán