The two demonstrations in Budapest: Orbán vs. Magyar, the opposition leader

Brussels–While Viktor Orbán was ranting against the EU and the alleged foreign influence in Hungary, in Budapest, tens of thousands of citizens gathered to protest against his illiberal government. The leader of the opposition, Péter Magyar, could challenge the premier’s party for the lead in next year’s elections.

The squares of the Hungarian capital were crowded on Saturday (March 15) for two opposing demonstrations. On the one hand, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave a speech on the anniversary of the failed 1848 revolution against the Habsburg rule. “There is always an empire that tries to take away the freedom of Hungarians,” the Fidesz  leader said, referring to the uprising against the Austrian empire, claiming that “right now, it is the one in Brussels.”

In a series of attacks against the EU, Orbán complained that “Brussels is abusing its power, as Vienna did in the past” and that “it wants to colonize” Europe through war. The solution, he said (after being cornered by the rest of the 27 member states at the last extraordinary summit, precisely on continued support for Kyiv), is to keep Ukraine out of the twelve-star club.

Reiterating conspiracy theories such as that of the so-called “great replacement,” Orbán added that “a battle is being fought today for the soul of the Western world” and that “the empire wants to mix and then replace the indigenous peoples of Europe with masses of invaders from foreign civilizations.”

There were also attacks on independent Hungarian media and organizations. Orbán branded these intermediary bodies as “bugs” and promised a crackdown on what he called a “shadow army” that allegedly threatens the sovereignty and independence of the central European country: “We will dismantle the financial machine that has used corrupt dollars to buy politicians, judges, journalists, pseudo-NGOs, and political activists,” he continued.

In the past few months, Budapest has taken several measures against entities that receive foreign funding, passing a contested foreign agent law that resembles a similar measure in place in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Among the targets of Orbán’s campaign against what he sees as a kind of liberal coup against him (who, in 2014, proudly championed a model of “illiberal democracy”) are also the funds of USAID, the US international development agency the operations of which the Donald Trump administration froze.

Last week, Fidesz proposed a series of amendments to the Hungarian Constitution that, among other things, would allow for the expulsion of dual-passport citizens if their behavior threatens “sovereignty or national security.”

Shortly after the premier’s rally, there was another demonstration in the Hungarian capital, which was in the opposite direction, gathering over 50 thousand people, according to organizers. It was an anti-Orbán demonstration inflamed by opposition leader Péter Magyar. “Those who betray their nation must end up in the trash of history,” the MEP told his supporters. The premier and his cronies “exploit the Hungarian people, daze and divide them, turning (the citizens, Ed.) against each other,” he said.

Once a member of Fidesz, Magyar founded its own party, Tisza, which recently became Orbán’s main thorn in the side. After its success in the last European elections (where it garnered 29.6 percent of support), the polls now give Tisza a head-to-head with Fidesz or even a few points ahead, an unprecedented feat in the last 15 years in which national politics has remained firmly in the hands of Orbán’s party. “Our time has come,” Magyar promised the opposition square. Hungary will vote to renew parliament in April 2026.