User:Vauia Rex/sandbox/2018-2019 Hungary protests

The 2018-2019 Hungarian protests or the protests against the Overtime Work Act were a series of demonstrations against the politics of the Fourth Orbán Government starting from December 2018. It was mainly triggered by the passing of an overtime work act, amid an opposition obstruction attempt. The protests were characterized by clashes between protesters and the police, more serious than other anti-government protests in Hungary since 2010 - notably the police used tear gas to push back the crowd.

2018-2019 Hungary protests
Protesters in December 2018
Date	8 December 2018 – 10 February 2019
Location	Various cities in Hungary including Budapest, Érd, Vác, Győr, Veszprém, Pécs, Szeged, Miskolc, Székesfehérvár, Makó, Tatabánya, Békéscsaba, Orosháza, Szolnok, Cegléd, Kecskemét, Keszthely, Zalaegerszeg, Ajka, Nyíregyháza, Balassagyarmat, Eger, Sopron, Szombathely, Gödöllő. and protests by the Hungarian diaspora all over the world including: Dublin Vienna London Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich Warsaw
Caused by	Overtime work act Administrative courts
Goals	Withdrawal of the Overtime work act Judicial independence Joining the European Public Prosecutor Independent public media
Number
16 Dec 2018 15 000 16 Dec 2018 (March on MTVA): 2000
Casualties
Injuries	9 policeman (12 December 2018)

Background

The Fidesz party lead by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had dominated Hungarian politics since 2010, securing three consecutive parlamentary supermajorities in each election.

Throughout the 2010s, Orbán received criticism from both the Hungarian opposition and western observers, accusing him of eroding democratic norms, restricting independent media, rising corruption supporting a network of oligarchs - as well as, since the European Migrant Crisis, using hateful, xenophobic rhetoric to bolster his support. The period had seen many protest organised by opposition-alligned civil organisations, against the new Fundamental law (2011-2012), Education reforms (2012-13, 2015, 2016, 2018), frequent amendments to the fundamental law (2013), a proposed Internet tax (2014), and the expulsion of the Central European University (2017). These protests were mostly peaceful, and except for the repeal of the internet tax proposal, did not receive significant government response.

After FIDESZ's 2/3 majority victory in the 2018 parliamentary election a series of protests called "We are the Majority" protested Hungary's disproportional voting system (that allowed 49% of the voters represented by 66% of the seats), as well as unconfirmed rumors of election fraud. These protests attracted tens of thousands, but soon they had petered out without any incident or result, and the rest of the year passed without a major demonstration until December

12 December 2018 parliamentary scandal

On 10 December 2018 the opposition parties planned to obstruct the passing of the act by proposing 2900 amendments, on which the Assembly must have voted individually.

Demonstrations