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Tens of thousands of people hold anti-PM demo in Hungary

24 October 2012 04:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Tens of thousands of people have held a demonstration in the Hungarian capital Budapest against Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose poll ratings have also fallen in recent months, APA reports quoting presstv.ir website.

Between 50,000 and 100,000 supporters of former Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai attended Tuesdayâ€™s rally, in which he declared he would challenge Orban in the elections slated for 2014, AFP reported.

Bajnai announced the creation of a "Movement 2014" to compete in the 2014 elections.

"Look how many you are!" Bajnai told the cheering crowd. "I urge you to take strength from that. I take strength from it.

"In 2010 people voted for change but (Orban’s party) Fidesz betrayed them," he said, accusing the government of "making the rich richer and the poor poorer."

According to AFP, more than 50,000 people joined the anti-Orban rally, but the opposition radio said that at least 100,000 people attended the demonstration.

Orban’s approval ratings have fallen because Hungary has fallen in recession and the government has to introduce tough austerity measures. Orban’s government has also failed to secure loans from the international lenders such as the International Monetary Fund.

Meanwhile, business leaders and pro-government journalists also organized a "March for Peace" in support of Orban in the capital on Tuesday. The state media claimed that some 150,000 people joined the march.

The crowd swelled since the organizers bussed in tens of thousands of people from rural areas and even from the ethnic Hungarian minorities of other countries such as Poland.