Hungarian protesters demand Orban quits over abuse cases

A demonstration in the Hungarian capital Budapest Saturday drew tens of thousands of protesters demanding that Prime Minister Viktor Orban resign due to perceived inaction over allegations of child abuse in state-run institutions. 

Since returning to power in 2010, the nationalist premier has vowed to prioritise protection of children but multiple high-profile child abuse scandals have rocked his government in recent times. 

Saturday's protest was called by opposition leader Peter Magyar, whose TISZA party is leading opinion polls ahead of parliamentary elections in spring, after fresh allegations surfaced at a juvenile detention centre in the capital. 

"Normally a government would be toppled after a case like this," 16-year-old David Kozak told AFP. 

"For them the problem is not that the abuses happened, but that they were revealed."

At least 50,000 demonstrators hit the streets, some of them brandishing cuddly children's toys, according to AFP journalists. 

Magyar led the crowd, holding a banner that read "Let's protect children".

The latest scandal erupted when CCTV footage emerged showing the then director of the Szolo Street juvenile detention centre kicking a boy in the head. 

Four staff members were taken into custody earlier this week, and the government has placed all such facilities under police supervision.

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Three other employees had been arrested earlier, including another former director who is accused of running a prostitution ring.

"We should be outraged at what is being done with the most vulnerable children," said Zsuzsa Szalay, a 73-year-old pensioner taking part in the protest.

On Friday, Magyar released a previously unpublished official report from 2021 which found that over a fifth of children in state-run care institutions have been abused.

The government has insisted that action was being taken against suspected child abuse.

The 2021 report was passed on to the relevant authorities in 2022 "to assist their work," the interior ministry said in a statement.

Orban has condemned the latest abuse case, saying even "young criminals should not be treated this way".

Last year, Katalin Novak was forced to resign as president after it emerged she pardoned a convicted child abuser's accomplice.

That scandal has shaken his tight group on power and helped fuel the rise of Magyar, a former government insider.

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