The big throw didn't work out, there were hardly any Gyurcsánys at the demonstration on Sunday

Kossuth Square was not even half full.

On Sunday afternoon, the left-wing parties organized a large demonstration on Kossuth Square to achieve direct presidential elections in Hungary, with the exception of Mi Hazánk and LMP, all the opposition parties indicated that they would be there. Of course, the direct election of the head of state was hardly discussed, the emphasis was on child protection, which they considered to be a non-existent category, to see if it is possible to peel off a little bit of "political skin" from the pedophile scandal in Bicske, which is causing less and less interest.

The stage was set up in the middle of the square, there were no demonstrators behind it, and the demonstrators were just lounging in front of the stage, the number of people was far less than what they could have waited for in the ranks of the opposition. The square was already very windy in the beginning, the crowd of several thousand then, as the rain arrived,

quickly dwindled to a few hundred people.

The space, despite the fact that the left-wing parties have long boasted about how many members and sympathizers they have, is not half full; by the time Gergely Karácsony, the last speaker, took the stage, barely a few hundred people sang the National Anthem with him. The line of speakers was opened by Klára Dobrev, who spoke first about the "sparkle of children's eyes", that is, when "a normal adult looks into these eyes, he also feels the responsibility that with a good sentence he can create a miracle, and with a bad gesture he can destroy a child".

“These monsters know what they are doing, they are doing it to satisfy their perverted desires. In normal people, the normal protective instinct comes into play at this time. The children of the home in Bicske were not protected by anyone, they lived in a nightmare for years, mainly because those whose job it was to protect them were on the side of disgusting, filthy, pedophile monsters," said Dobrev.

 The Fidesz pedophile network stinks, and Viktor Orbán is at the head of it"

said Gyurcsány's wife.

He believed that Tamas Sulyok, the Fidesz-KDNP presidential candidate, is a person who looks like the president of the republic, a Mameluk who has already proven himself at the head of the Constitutional Court.

Tímea Szabó: "Orbán and Fidesz are pedophiliacs, shame on you!"

Klára Dobrev was followed by Tímea Szabó, who says that it is not the left that is holding on, but "Orbán to the prime minister's chair". However, child protection is not about him, but about never again being able to hurt children and let pedophiles run wild. According to him, the state knew exactly what was going on in the children's home in Bicske.

"Now, after the amnesty case, it has become clear that freedom is threatened by Viktor Orbán and his pedophile network, since Orbán is the one who gets common law criminals out of prison. According to Szabó, the new package of child protection laws will also be another scam, so the task of the opposition is to submit a joint package of proposals together with child protection organizations, and "more money must go to child protection, wage increases, and the signaling system must be developed."

Ágnes Kunhalmi, co-president of the MSZP, in her speech after Szabó, talked about the stakes in the EP elections, especially if the Fidesz members vote in one direction: another two-thirds, but according to her opinion, Orbán can be defeated.

Now, in 2024, the system needs to be tightened enough that the system can be beaten in 26. If Fidesz has a majority in the general assembly in Budapest, there won't be 26 either, because Fidesz has regained Budapest"

Kunhalmi indicated.

"Now we know that in the Orbán regime there is always a lower side," began András Fekete-Győr, who a few weeks ago received a one-year prison sentence in the second degree, suspended for two years of probation, for the crime of violence against an official. Fekete-Győr said that six years ago he threw a smoke candle behind the police line because he was angry about "the slavery law imposed on us by the government". "At the time, we thought it was no lower, but it turned out that it is always lower in the Orbán regime. The smoke has cleared, the fury remains and is stronger than ever,” he declared.

Following him, László Varju and Gergely Karácsony, who were also recently convicted in the second degree for assault, rioting and the crime against the order of the election, were listened to by only a few hundred people. Varju mostly talked about his own "persecution", and the mayor of Budapest first spoke about: "the fact that the residents of the orphanage in Bicske did not receive help and the scandal is not the system's fault, but the system itself".

Gergely Karácsony also took the stage, he said in his speech: he understands the anger of the crowds, also why there are fewer people now than even last Friday.

"Nevertheless, he believes that parties are necessary. There is something to be done, something must be done now, we must also go to vote now," he said. Then he asked the question, should we let them take us out of Europe

"The republic is not lost, "it is there, for example, in the parties that are capable of cooperation, capable of serving this city, whose diversity gives it its greatness, its free future. (…) Budapest is a republic so that one day the whole country will be."

LMP said no

While the MSZP and Péter Juhász had a separate stand collecting signatures at the demonstration, Mi Hazánk and the LMP did not participate. The absence of the latter is more surprising. In their statement early Sunday afternoon, they wrote,

"although it is possible to make substantive arguments in favor of the direct election of the head of state, the direct election of the head of state does not address the reasons that caused this disgraceful pardon case. From our point of view, direct presidential election is an empty, contentless slogan, similar to partial constitutionalism and other opposition slogans that discredit those who say this. According to the LMP, the other parties are making a serious mistake if there is no one other than the Fidesz candidate who goes through the parliamentary procedure and represents those whose confidence was shaken by the disgraceful pardon case at the moment of the presidential election."

Featured image: Ágnes Kunhalmi, co-president of the MSZP, mayor Gergely Karácsony, László Varju, vice-president of the DK, Tímea Szabó, executive co-chair of the Párbeszéd-Zöldek, Klára Dobrev, shadow prime minister of the DK, member of the European Parliament (EP), Gábor Iványi pastor, president of the Oltalom Karitatív Egyesület, Dávid Bedő, Member of Parliament of Momentum, and András Fekete-Győr, Member of Parliament of Momentum (bj) at the demonstration for the direct election of the President of the Republic on Kossuth Lajos Square in front of the Parliament on February 25, 2024. The demonstration was organized by the Democratic Coalition (DK), Momentum, MSZP and Párbeszéd-Zöldek. MTI/Tibor Illyés