Hungary protest against child abuse raises pressure on Orban

Andras Gergely, Zoltan Simon, Bloomberg News on Dec 13, 2025

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Tens of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets on Saturday as a video depicting abuse at a state-run juvenile facility added to pressure on Prime Minister Viktor Orban four months before elections.

Protesters marched from downtown Pest across the Danube to Buda castle where Orban and his ally President Tamas Sulyok have their offices. Opposition leader Peter Magyar, whose Tisza party leads in polls ahead of April’s vote and who organized the protest, called on Orban to quit over what he called a failure to protect children in state care.

“Nothing can be more important than to say, as a nation in Hungary, that we can’t allow children to be hurt,” Magyar told the torch-lit rally in the castle. “Those currently in power have proven incapable of protecting them.”

The undated video — which came to light earlier this week — appeared to show an official, who until recently was acting head of a Budapest juvenile correction facility, committing several violent acts, including kicking a child who was on the ground, and slamming the head of another into a table. The man has since quit and been taken into custody. Police raided the facility this week, detaining several others.

The government has tried to depict the brutalized minors as criminals themselves. In an interview with the pro-government Mandiner news website, Orban repeated that line, though he said the violence was unacceptable even against criminals.

The Cabinet’s response triggered further criticism for victim blaming.

“It’s a stomach-churning story, including the government’s reaction or lack of reaction to it,” said Levente Igneczi, a 24-year-old software developer, as he joined the march Saturday. “Even if these protests don’t necessarily have an immediate impact, it’s important to send a message so close to the election.”

Orban’s government has also sought to take credit for the belated police intervention, which followed months of calls by the opposition for a thorough investigation after it was discovered that the facility’s previous director is suspected of sexual abuse and of running a prostitution ring.

Related scandal

Magyar’s emergence as the strongest challenger to Orban going into the 2026 election is rooted in a related scandal.

Less than two years ago, Hungary’s then-president, Orban-allied Katalin Novak, resigned amid public furor after granting a controversial pardon in a pedophilia case at a state-run children’s home.

Magyar, a longtime Orban backer with close ties to government leadership via friends and family, decided to go public with his criticism over an initial attempt from senior officials to avoid taking responsibility.

“Since the breaking out of that scandal, 22 months have passed and the government hasn’t acted,” Magyar said as protesters piled up fluffy toys as presents for the children in state care. “We’ve come full circle.”

After the 2024 abuse scandal, Magyar established Tisza, which has since decried corruption among Hungary’s ruling elite and capitalized on dissatisfaction with a cost-of-living crisis.

Magyar has continued to focus on the plight of vulnerable children at dilapidated, underfunded state homes, and to contrast their predicament with the conservative Orban government’s projected pro-family image.