Hungary’s laws on public assembly should be changed but not because of recent anti-government demonstrations, Fidesz MP Gergely Gulyás has told daily Népszabadság. Gulyás said changes would ban different demonstrations held at the same location and limit their lengths. “It is everyone’s basic right to demonstrate against the government but putting up tents in front of Parliament for months is an abuse of the law,” he said. András Schiffer, co-leader of opposition LMP, called on the government to consult the five parliamentary parties on any such plans. He said the government should refrain from “forcefully changing the legal framework that allows citizens to protest”. Gulyás said such consultations would indeed be held and that Fidesz remains committed to allowing such basic constitutional rights as the right to assembly. The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition said his plans are unacceptable. “The Orbán regime is afraid of nothing more than its own people,” the party said. Limiting the right to assembly was the authoritarian tool of cowardly governments.
-
Display
