Orbán’s rival leads protest over alleged child abuse in Hungary’s state-run institutions

Thousands March in Budapest Protesting Child Abuse in State Institutions

Tens of thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Budapest on Saturday, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s main political challenger Péter Magyar, to protest alleged child abuse in state-run juvenile facilities—a scandal that has intensified pressure on Hungary’s government.

The massive demonstration was sparked by recently published videos showing employees at a Budapest juvenile correction facility physically abusing children. The former head of the institution is currently in police custody, facing accusations of operating a prostitution ring and subjecting minors to physical and sexual abuse.

Despite reports of misconduct allegedly dating back years, critics claim Orbán’s government failed to take appropriate action until police finally raided the correction center this week. Magyar, whose center-right Tisza party now leads Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party in most independent polls, has seized on the scandal, demanding the prime minister’s resignation ahead of elections expected in April.

The Hungarian government’s communications office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the allegations.

As darkness fell over the capital, demonstrators marched solemnly across the Danube River toward Orbán’s offices on Castle Hill, many carrying lit torches in the cold evening air. The procession reflected growing public outrage over what many see as systematic failures in Hungary’s child protection system.

“In other countries, the entire government would have fallen over this scandal. But here we see them clinging to power tooth and nail,” said protester Sándor Horvát, who traveled approximately 200 miles from Tiszabecs near the Ukrainian border to join the demonstration. He expressed confidence that Orbán’s government “will be gone” by election time.

This is not the first child protection scandal to rock Orbán’s administration. Last year, Hungary’s president Katalin Novák and justice minister Judit Varga were forced to resign following public outrage over their endorsement of a presidential pardon for a man convicted of helping cover up cases of child sexual abuse in a state orphanage.

That earlier scandal represented a rare moment of vulnerability for Orbán, who has governed Hungary with near-total political dominance since returning to power in 2010. It also provided the opening for Magyar—himself a former Fidesz insider—to emerge as a formidable political challenger by highlighting allegations of government misconduct and corruption.

Addressing the crowd assembled outside government headquarters on Saturday, Magyar drew direct connections between the two scandals: “Twenty-two months ago, a country put a question to the Hungarian government: Can it change and improve the situation of children, or will it remain an accomplice of child abusers?”

“Orbán’s government promised everything, but since then, unfortunately, it turned out that every member of the Orbán government took the side of the abusers,” Magyar told the assembled protesters.

The government has publicly condemned the physical abuse documented in the videos while simultaneously attempting to frame the situation as evidence that Hungary’s child protection system functions effectively in exposing wrongdoing. Several officials, including Orbán himself, have emphasized that the juvenile residents of the facility were placed there for criminal behavior or misconduct, characterizing the institution as essentially a prison for minors.

Political analysts note that Magyar’s rapid rise in popularity represents an unprecedented challenge to Orbán’s long-standing political dominance. The child abuse scandal has particularly resonated with Hungarian voters across the political spectrum, potentially undermining Orbán’s careful cultivation of family values as a cornerstone of his political identity.

As Hungary approaches elections in April, the growing protest movement suggests Orbán may face his most serious electoral challenge in over a decade, with Magyar’s Tisza party capitalizing on public dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of child welfare issues and broader concerns about institutional corruption.