Fresh Protest in Budapest Over Assembly Law - Show of Solidarity with Academics Being 'Blackmailed' by Gov’t
- 7 May 2025 5:16 PM

At the protest at Ferenciek Square, Hadhazy said the demonstrators who had gathered there wanted to live in a free country "and are willing to do something about it".
He said there was no government that was immune to pressure, and results could be achieved "against any government". He insisted that the reason for the amendment to the assembly law was not to ban the Pride march, "but to ban the protests that will follow future election fraud and the rounding up of opposition politicians".
Hadhazy said the protests demanding the law’s withdrawal would be considered successful if the law had already been withdrawn. He also said he would prefer if there were thousands of people protesting, and announced another demonstration for next week.
He said he could not guarantee that the protests would succeed, but vowed to do everything to make sure they did.
Hadhazy called on the protesters to march to the headquarters of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in a show of solidarity with academics who he said were being blackmailed by the government.
He said that the government was offering 80 billion forints (EUR 198m) for properties of the Hungarian Research Network which academics say is worth 130 billion, and the government was threatening to withhold their wage hikes unless they dropped their lawsuits in the matter.
The protesters crossed Elisabeth Bridge to the Buda side before circling back to the academy on the Pest side via Chain Bridge.
The Budapest Police Headquarters (BRFK) said on police.hu that at 6pm some protesters unlawfully took to Elisabeth Bridge and blocked traffic for 20 minutes.
Source:
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.
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