EGER, Hungary — Viktor Orbán is done compromising.

The Hungarian prime minister, once known for restraint toward protesters, has thrown caution to the wind. The introduction of the first stage of an EU rule-of-law sanctions mechanism against Hungary in September was intended to send a warning to Budapest. But Orbán has since cracked down on dissent at home like never before.

“Orbán is not backing down,” said Viktor Mák, an American-Hungarian student at the Central European University who has been involved in protesting for academic freedom. “The regime is getting more and more confident.”

Over 50 people were arrested during mass protests in Hungary over the past week-and-a-half. Police in Budapest used pepper spray to keep at bay a crowd of thousands of mostly young people, and a protest scheduled for Friday evening is expected to be tense. Meanwhile, more than a dozen unions are considering strike action.

Several opposition members of parliament, who walked into the headquarters of the state television channel on Sunday evening to demand that the protesters’ demands get coverage, were dragged out of the building by security guards early Monday. A small group of protesters threw objects at police, and some offices of the ruling party were vandalized.

George Soros's Open Society Foundations earlier this week dismissed allegations he was behind the protests.

The scenes were highly unusual in a country where protests against the prime minister have generally been peaceful and sometimes jovial, with demonstrators even handing out flowers to police.

“We want to show that people oppose Orbán,” said a 26-year old man marching in the northern town of Eger on Wednesday night.

A long-time supporter of Jobbik, a far-right party that has moved toward the center right of late, the man — who declined to be named — walked alongside hundreds of protesters of all ages who back parties ranging from Jobbik to socialists and liberals.

Together, they chanted “free media,” “independent prosecution,” and “Viktator” — a popular nickname for the prime minister among opposition activists.

The latest unrest comes after the passage last week of two controversial laws. One, the result of a severe labor shortage, would allow employers to ask their workers to put in up to 400 hours of overtime per year, with many employers having to pay for these extra hours within a period of three years.

The second law, which involves changes to the judicial system, is the latest in what critics describe as Orbán’s effort to take control of independent institutions.

Earlier this month, the prime minister issued a decree that would allow for the creation of a large, non-profit media holding company. The new entity would be made up of over 400 pro-government print, online, radio, and television outlets — and would not have to comply with competition rules.

Orbán also refused to sign off on a U.S.-brokered deal that would allow for the Budapest-based Central European University to continue enrolling new students in 2019, prompting the university to announce earlier this month that it will move its U.S.-accredited programs — the bulk of its operations — to Vienna starting in the new academic year.

Soros blamed

The protesters in Eger, like their counterparts in Budapest, read out five demands: the withdrawal of the overtime hours law, fewer overtime hours for police, an independent judiciary, Hungary joining the European Public Prosecutor's Office, and an independent public media.

But the ruling Fidesz party has rejected demonstrators’ concerns.

As protesters in Eger stood outside the local Fidesz headquarters with the temperature at -9 degree Celsius, inside the building officials maintained that demonstrators had nothing to do with the city’s residents.

Demonstrations drawing thousands of opposition activists have thus far only taken place in Budapest. But many provincial towns held smaller demonstrations this week.

“There is rule of law and democracy” in Hungary, said Ildikó Adler Marton, the president of Eger’s Fidesz branch, who also serves as the city’s deputy mayor.

“This current series of protests doesn’t have to do with the amendment of the work law,” Adler Marton said, sitting in the entrance hall of the Fidesz office while protesters cheered opposition politicians outside. She blamed the demonstrations on former center-left Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány and financier and philanthropist George Soros — a frequent target of criticism from Fidesz and the government.

“It’s more about how together with activists of Gyurcsány and Soros, the opposition parties called their sympathizers to the streets,” she said.

“We didn’t see people from Eger among the protesters,” the deputy mayor said.

Soros's Open Society Foundations earlier this week dismissed allegations he was behind the protests.

"To suggest that the protestors are being manipulated rather than exercising their right to free expression is an insult to Hungarians and a sign of Orban’s desperation to deflect attention from his corrupt regime,” the organization said.

While Fidesz officials in Eger said they did not recognize those in the crowd, the crowd was certainly familiar with Fidesz: Some protesters could be overheard chatting about personalities within the local branch of the ruling party’s youth wing.

Beyond Budapest

Orbán has long counted on support from outside the capital. Demonstrations drawing thousands of opposition activists have thus far only taken place in Budapest. But many provincial towns held smaller demonstrations this week.

In Eger, when demonstrators marched through the city, startled passers-by nearly all stopped and stared.

Opposition activists say it is the government’s control of all major print media and most television channels available to voters outside of Budapest, as well as intimidation tactics, that contribute to different levels of discontent across the country.

Some opposition politicians began demanding the resignation of Sándor Pintér, Orbán’s interior minister, who oversees the security forces.

“A one-party regime has pretty much emerged in the countryside,” said Katalin Lukácsi, a frequent speaker at anti-Orbán rallies who identifies as a Christian democrat.

“Fidesz has an organization, Fidesz has propaganda,” she said in an interview in Budapest, noting that many working-age people outside of the capital fear openly dissenting, even in Facebook posts, because their jobs indirectly depend on local Fidesz officials.

But the 31-year-old activist sees signs of change, as the recent protests brought together elements from across the political spectrum.

“The opposition is really together,” she said, adding that for the first time politicians from all anti-government parties appeared together on stage.

But Fidesz maintains that the countryside is still its power base.

There are “not that many [protesters] outside Budapest,” said György Schöpflin, a Fidesz member of the European Parliament, noting that according to polls the ruling party has significant popular support nationally.

“This is not the start of an Orange Revolution,” he said.

Police under scrutiny

Following the tense demonstrations and multiple allegations of police misconduct, some opposition politicians began demanding the resignation of Sándor Pintér, Orbán’s interior minister, who oversees the security forces.

A former member of the Communist party, Pintér joined Hungary’s security apparatus in the 1970s and has served as interior minister in all four of Orbán's Cabinets.

Pintér is “Hungary’s Fouché,” said an individual with knowledge of the interior ministry’s inner workings, referring to Napoleon Bonaparte’s feared chief of police.

But Pintér's defenders credit the police force with working to guarantee everyone’s safety during the protests.

“Ensuring that a mass gathering is safe by applying crowd control, if needed, is one of the toughest police tasks,” said one Hungarian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The years since violent protests in 2006 “have been a learning process for the Hungarian police,” he said, declaring that law enforcement personnel are “professionals” and “took an oath to uphold the law.”