Hungarians rally in mass protest against bill allowing blacklisting of Orbán critics

BUDAPEST, Hungary — A mass protest in Hungary on Sunday drew around 10,000 people in what some demonstrators called an act of resistance against recent actions by the right-wing populist government to restrict basic rights and crack down on independent media.

The protest, the latest in a recent wave of anti-government demonstrations, came days after a lawmaker from the party of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán submitted a bill that would allow the government to monitor, restrict, penalize and potentially ban media outlets and non-governmental organizations it deems a threat to the country’s sovereignty.

The bill is expected to pass in the parliament where the ruling Fidesz party holds a two-thirds majority. It is seen by many of Orbán’s opponents as among the most repressive policies the long-serving leader has leveled at his critics in the last 15 years of his rule.

Protesters on Sunday filled the square beside Hungary’s parliament in central Budapest to denounce the bill, which would allow the government to blacklist organizations that receive any amount of financial support from outside Hungary, and subject them to intrusive monitoring, searches, major fines and possible bans on their activities.

From a stage at the protest on Sunday, speaker Jakab Tóth said the bill submitted this week “is nothing more than a threat, a threat against people being able to express their opinions clearly and freely.”

Tóth added he believes the government has a responsibility to protect the sovereignty of citizens to exercise free speech and take part in public life. “If it doesn’t belong to all of us, if not all of us are free, then sovereignty is solely and exclusively the sovereignty of the government,” he said.

Orbán, who faces the most serious challenge yet to his power in elections scheduled for next year, has claimed that foreign interests, primarily originating in the United States and in neighboring Ukraine, have sought to instrumentalize independent media outlets and anti-corruption watchdogs in Hungary to influence public opinion with the aim of toppling his government.

Those organizations have vehemently denied such claims, and argued that the work they perform is done to professional standards and in the public interest.

Orbán has for years enacted crackdowns on NGOs and independent media, passing laws that critics say seek to stigmatize and obstruct groups that provide protection for women and minorities, offer legal and human rights assistance and expose official corruption.

The bill introduced last week outlines a broad definition of what constitutes a threat to sovereignty. Organizations may be targeted if they oppose or portray in a negative light values such as Hungary’s democratic character, national unity, traditional family structures, or Christian culture — suggesting that even legitimate criticism of government policy could be treated as a national security threat.

Sunday’s demonstration came after two-and-a-half months of weekly protests against an anti-LGBTQ+ law passed in March that banned Pride events and allows authorities to use facial recognition software to identify individuals attending the festivities.

Hungary’s government has argued its policies on LGBTQ+ rights are necessary to protect children from it calls “gender madness.” But many critics believe the measures were designed to stir up animosity against sexual minorities and help Orbán mobilize his right-wing base ahead of next year’s elections.