Under the new law, passed with 131 votes in favour and 56 against, “anyone will have the right to organise or participate in peaceful and unarmed demonstrations”.

As defined by the new legislation, a “meeting” is an event “attended by at least two people with the aim of publicly expressing their opinion on some public affair”. Public meetings shall be announced to the police at least 48 hours prior to the actual event.

The national assembly adopted an amendment to the penal code, under which people disrupting public events could be punished with up to one year in prison, while the punishment could be up to two years imprisonment if the person “violently disobeys” the organiser of the event.

The assembly law will take effect on October 1.

MTI Photo: Balogh Zoltán