The closure, ordered by the Standby Police and published on the police website, took effect on Thursday and may remain in force until Dec 31 at the latest.

The designated zones cover the area around the building as well as the Danube embankment and the surroundings of the garage ramps in Balassi Balint Street and on Antall Jozsef embankment.

The police said the aim of the closure was to guarantee the security of Parliament, the free movement of MPs and protected persons, and the uninterrupted work of the National Assembly.

Within the designated zones, the right of assembly may not be exercised and public events may not be held, although the decree preserves pedestrian and cycle traffic on several of the affected sections.

Agnes Forsthoffer, the speaker of parliament, later clarified the move in a Facebook post, saying the Standby Police had simply taken over the Parliamentary Guard's remit.

Under an amendment to the law that entered into force on Thursday, the facility protection staff of the Parliamentary Guard, which is being wound up, has been merged into the Standby Police, which is now responsible for protecting Parliament, she said.

For this reason, she said, the Standby Police took over all the rules under which the Parliamentary Guard had worked, incorporated them into its own regulations and published them on its website.

She said a mobile fence is set up the immediate few metres around the Parliament building, within which facility guards patrol to protect it from possible vandalism or other attacks.

This strip of a few metres also allows protected persons to arrive and leave undisturbed, she said.

"The Standby Police took over this area of work today. That is all that happened today," the Speaker said.


Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881.

MTI Photo

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