Thousands of people have demonstrated in Budapest in support of the Central European University - which is threatening to leave Hungary because it says it is not able to operate freely under the government of Prime Minister Victor Orban.

Protesters came from around the world to speak.

"I have seen how populism destroys a democracy,” said Venezuelan graduate Louis Cano. “I lost a country and I am not planning to lose another country without a fight."

"Uneducated gas-fitters collect mega fortunes,” said Hungarian student at the CEU Gergo Gonczi. “All friends of the Prime Minister, stealing millions of euros that we worked for. Playboys give orders to university academics."

The protestors rejected the Hungarian government’s denials that it’s forcing the George Soros backed university out.

"Finally we have a university among the best 200 in the world,” said one marcher. “We have to support it."

"The behavior of the government doesn't help young Hungarian students to stay here, it’s forcing the young generation to leave the country,” said another.

"People of all ages have come to protest,” says Euronews’s correspondent Gabor Ács . “The CEU's importance for Budapest comes not only through its teaching but its huge library. It has the biggest library of English language books in Central Europe, open to the public as well as students."