By Felix Nkambeh Tih
ANKARA
An estimated 10,000 Hungarians gathered in front of the country's Parliament Building in Budapest to protest against corruption and government policy.
Demonstrators shouted slogans against Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday evening, accusing his government of graft and also being too close to Russia.
Protesters chanted "Orbán out!", "Europe", "democracy" and "regime change".
Hungarian protesters also gathered in other Hungarian cities and capitals including London and Berlin calling for Orban’s resignation and the dismissal of Ildiko Vida, head of Hungary's tax authority and other government officials.
The protests came after a tax avoidance scandal erupted last month after the U.S. placed six Hungarian public officials, including the head of tax authority, on U.S. entry ban list because of alleged links to corruption and the government also sought to impose an internet tax.
- Claims contested
Washington refused to publicly name individuals allegedly involved although Hungary’s tax chief Ildiko Vida accepted that she was on the list, but contested the claims.
Andras Horvath, a former tax authority official at the event, called for immediate action against corruption and the construction of a new political system in which "nobody is left by the road".
“We have come to bury not a government, but a regime,” another demonstrator said.
Despite his lack of popularity, Orban was re-elected in April with his party Fidesz (Hungarian Civic Alliance) winning two-thirds of the seats in parliament.
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