by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief, reporting from Budapest, Hungary
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Tens of thousands of Hungarians carrying toys and torches rallied in Budapest, demanding the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over child abuse scandals at state-run youth detention centers.
Orbán’s main rival, Péter Magyar, led crowds braving winter temperatures as they marched through the city center and across the Chain Bridge over the Danube River, before climbing the steep stairs toward the prime ministerial and presidential residences in the Budapest Castle District, overlooking the capital.
Saturday’s protest was hastily organized via social media after leaked security-camera footage appeared to show the mistreatment of minors by staff at a state-run detention center in Budapest.
The footage, published by opposition activist and former lawmaker Péter Juhász, has already led to the resignation of the center’s acting director this week.
ABUSE ALLEGATIONS SPARK NATIONAL OUTRAGE
Prosecutors said two custodial officers physically abused young people, including striking their heads with a window handle. At least seven people have been arrested in connection with abuse cases, which also allegedly involved the exploitation of victims of human trafficking.
Public anger intensified further after the leak of a classified report indicating that crimes committed against children under state care had been concealed since 2021, allegedly because they conflicted with Orbán’s pro-family, Christian political narrative.
Cited by Magyar, the document claimed that every fifth child in state care is abused, while one quarter of sexual assault cases involving minors never reach law enforcement authorities.
Nearly 40 percent of guards reportedly knew of at least one child who was sexually abused during grooming, Magyar added, citing the same report. The document was prepared for Hungary’s national child protection authority and the government.
The case is the latest scandal to rock Hungary’s right-wing government, following the February resignations of President Katalin Novák and former Justice Minister Judit Varga after it emerged that they had approved a presidential pardon for a man convicted of helping cover up sexual abuse at a children’s home.
The decision triggered nationwide outrage and protests, as well as renewed scrutiny of the government’s child-protection policies. Varga is the former wife of Péter Magyar, who later broke publicly with the ruling Fidesz camp and launched the Tisza Party.
MAGYAR APOLOGIZES TO CHILDREN IN EMOTIONAL SPEECH
Speaking at an emotionally charged gathering, Magyar asked demonstrators to hold one another and raise their hands toward the sky as he publicly apologized to children in state care.
“Dear children in state care, I hope you can hear us. I hope you can see that the majority of Hungarians are with you. I hope you know that you can count on your homeland in the future,” he told the crowd.
“I would like to personally apologize on behalf of millions of Hungarians instead of the vile power which did not protect you, which did not help you, which you could not count on in difficult moments,” he said. “From the center of the Hungarian state, from the palaces of the fallen president of the republic and the fallen prime minister, I say to you: do not be afraid — we will protect you.”
Magyar, whose conservative-liberal Tisza Party leads in several opinion polls, pledged that within 121 days after elections his movement would build “a humane country where the child comes first.”
BIBLICAL APPEAL AND POLITICAL PROMISES
“We will create a country where every child — whether living in a loving family or under the care of the state — has equal opportunities for a happy and balanced adulthood,” Magyar said.
“I promise you that next Christmas — Christmas 2026 — we will celebrate together with thousands of children in state care in the wonderful palaces behind me. Do not be afraid. Your country will protect you,” he added.
Magyar, 44, also quoted the Bible, citing Matthew 25:40: “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
As the scandals mount, Magyar and others have voiced anger over the government’s decision to place Hungary’s five juvenile correctional institutions under direct police oversight after whistleblowers exposed the abuses.
PROTESTERS QUESTION POLICE ROLE IN CHILD CARE
“It’s outrageous that they don’t have psychiatrists and other professionals who can handle children. Police cannot handle children — it’s not their job,” said Zsuzsanna Szimonyi, a 71-year-old English language teacher, in an interview with Worthy News.
Rita, 42, who declined to give her last name, said she had grown up in foster care herself. “I was adopted. I was deeply damaged. My mother also grew up in these institutions — she had a miserable life,” she said. “I cannot express diplomatically what I think about the prime minister.” She added that relatives still support Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party.
A young man from Taiwan, which China has threatened to take over by force, said he never expected to march for democracy and young human rights in a faraway European nation with his young Hungarian wife.
Péter Vámos, a 45-year-old software engineer and father, attended the protest carrying a Winnie-the-Pooh teddy bear. He told Worthy News he was shaken by the scale of abuse in Hungary’s state institutions. “I have two children, so I understand how important it is to take good care of children,” Vámos said.
“There are hundreds of thousands of children in Hungary who are missing any kind of proper care.”
He said he still hopes Orbán will resign but added that he and others do not rule out leaving Hungary if the prime minister remains in power after next year’s highly anticipated elections.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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