PM Viktor Orban announced a battle against the shadow army of NGOs, while his opposition rival proclaimed the arrival of the Hungarian spring

Tens of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest on Saturday to attend rallies organized by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his opposition rival, former Fidesz party member Peter Magyar.

March 15 is a major national holiday in Hungary, commemorating the 1848 revolution against Austrian rule. Both Orban's Fidesz Party and the opposition center-right Tisza Party used the occasion to rally support ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for April 2026.

More than 50,000 protesters attended the Tisza event, according to Reuters. Photos and videos circulating on social media showed massive crowds waving national flags and party banners, flooding several streets in the Hungarian capital.

"Tisza is flooding," demonstrators chanted, referring to both the opposition party and one of Hungary's major rivers. Founded in 2020, the Tisza Party has recently seen a surge in approval ratings, reportedly surpassing Fidesz by about 10%, according to a Telex report this week.

Magyar, who joined the party last year and quickly became its leader, has accused Orban's government of corruption and enriching itself at the expense of ordinary Hungarians. He promised his supporters a political "spring" following what he called Orban's "winter."

The opposition leader also pledged to launch a public survey on 12 key economic and political issues, including tax cuts, Hungary's NATO and EU membership, and Ukraine's bid to join the EU. While Tisza has been highly critical of Fidesz on domestic policy, it has aligned with Orban's stance on not supplying weapons to Kiev.

Addressing his supporters in Budapest, Orban declared it was time to eliminate what he described as a "shadow army" of media organizations and NGOs receiving foreign funding and allegedly serving EU interests.

"We will dismantle the financial machine that has used corrupt dollars to buy politicians, judges, journalists, pseudo-NGOs, and political activists. We will eliminate the entire shadow army," Orban said.

A staunch opponent of Western military aid to Kiev, Orban also claimed that the Ukraine conflict was being used as a tool of "colonization" by what he called a global liberal "empire."

"The instrument of colonization is war. The rulers of Europe decided that Ukraine should continue the war, whatever it costs," he told the crowd. Echoing a similar proposal by Magyar, Orban said he would hold a public poll to let Hungarians decide whether they support Ukraine's EU accession.

(RT.com)