There is a clear difference between the protests from both Wednesday night and those presently underway in the Hungarian capital this evening compared to previous demonstrations over the past eight years. On the surface, the current demonstrations of around three thousand protesters are about the Orbán regime’s oppressive new labour laws, reportedly adopted due to pressure on the Orbán government from multinational companies in Hungary. But it is clear that the youth-led demonstrations, much more strident and aggressive than most over the past eight years and poorly controlled by Hungarian police, are about the entire regime, as such.

Both on Wednesday and Thursday evening, largely spontaneous demonstrations, spearheaded mostly by a younger generation of Hungarians, successfully disrupted traffic on Budapest’s Chain Bridge, broke through the security barricade at parliament, set garbage cans and benches on fire, threatened to set the massive Christmas tree in front of parliament ablaze and withstood the tear gas used four times by the police. Some of the angriest, most radicalized elements chanted mockingly: “we are here to work overtime.”

The reference, of course, is to the new overtime law, which allows employers to require employees to work 400 hours of overtime per year, rather than the previous maximum of 250 hours. Every opposition party was vociferous in opposing the bill–more so than they have ever been to date since Fidesz took power in 2010. Using a series of delay tactics, disruption and disobedience, they causes chaos in parliament during the vote, leading Speaker László Kövér threatening to seek the most serious penalty, including potentially jail time, for the “out of hand” opposition MP’s.

Thursday evening’s protests began with the occupation of the Chain Bridge, Margaret Bridge, as well as traffic disruption on the main road along the banks of the Danube. A group of around a thousand protesters also blocked off the busy Oktogon intersection. Similarly to yesterday, the most popular chant is “filthy Fidesz” (mocskos Fidesz), “Orbán get lost” (“Orbán, takarodj”)and references to Orbán using a popular Hungarian expletive. Several protest signs demand that the members of the Orbán regime, who form a “band of thieves” be jailed.

Although Momentum has been involved as an organizer of these demonstrations, the protests do not have any central leadership and controlling the crowd has been difficult. There also appear to be two separate, but closely linked demonstrations going on tonight and in close proximity to each other: one is organized by Momentum, the other by a union of university students. It is also clear that there is an enraged “hard core” element to the protest, and they are not looking for any compromise with the regime. The nature of this unruly protest is such that the direction of the protesters and the march can change rapidly. Last night protests persisted until past 2:00 a.m., when police finally regained control of Central Budapest and progressively chased and ultimately dispersed the crowd through the city. On Wednesday night, a handful of police were injured in the confrontations.

In its call to protest, Momentum announced: “Last night something was born in this country. The time to act has arrived. The time to get up from the couch and go out into the streets is here. We have to show that we have had enough, we have to show that we are not scared and that we won’t be slaves.”

On Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Budapest time, riot police were called to protect the Office of the Chief Prosecutor, Péter Polt, after many demonstrators began berating the Fidesz party hack who currently occupies the role and refuses to investigate and prosecute Fidesz corruption. Shortly thereafter smoke grenades were once again thrown, as the bulk of the protesters arrived to Kossuth Square and Parliament at half past eight. Near 9:00 p.m., journalists from HVG confirmed that Momentum leader András Fekete-Győri was among those who lit and tossed a smoked grenade into the line of riot police guarding parliament and that a thick cloud of smoke surrounded the officers. Firecrackers were also thrown at the police at parliament, as well as glass bottles. Within minutes, police once again used tear gas against the protesters–reportedly greater quantities than yesterday.

There is no question that after two nights of protests, the mood on the streets of Budapest is very different than before. These protests are led by younger Hungarians, they are clearly angrier than at any time in the last eight years and are much more willing to resort to various forms of civil disobedience, and many of them to violence as well.

As the evening progresses in Budapest, we will update this article with developments as warranted.

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