Hungary: Thousands protest against government in Budapest

Thousands of protesters took part in a march on Friday in the Hungarian capital of Budapest in solidarity with journalists and staff of the country's main news website, who resigned from their jobs after the editor-in-chief was fired earlier this week.

Over 80 Index staff members, the vast majority of the newsroom, said they were leaving the country’s most-read website because the dismissal of Szabolcs Dull endangered its professional independence and its future.

Index is Hungary's most-read website, and has been highly critical of the country's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and was branded by the prime minister as a "fake news factory".

At the night march called by opposition political parties, speakers reminded the crowd about the numerous media outlets the Orban government shut down or incorporated into its propaganda machine.

They also criticised the government for its efforts to bring as many previously independent institutions under its control as possible.

Balazs Gulyas, a columnist at the weekly Magyar Hang, provoked whistling and jeering when he read out a 2018 quote from Orban: "We would never have the audacity to silence those who don’t agree with us.”

Organisers estimated that 5,000-10,000 people participated in the protest.