Timothy Garton Ash knew the young Orbán.

As I saw on a recent visit to Budapest, the country no longer has the pluralistic media you need for liberal democracy, while the independence of the judiciary has been eroded, as it has more recently in Poland. Even as Orbán tries to take down the Central European University (CEU), founded by George Soros, he is also preparing a squeeze on all NGOs, and proposing to pack refugees and their families into containers, in violation of international humanitarian law.

I write as someone who stood on Heroes Square in Budapest in June 1989 and watched with admiration as the then little-known 26-year-old Orbán electrified the crowd with a call for Russian

There was a massive demonstration in Budapest today.

Tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated Wednesday in the Hungarian capital to oppose government policies that are seen as limiting academic freedom and intimidating civic groups.

After the rally officially ended at Heroes Square, a Budapest landmark, some protesters faced off with police officers blocking access to the nearby headquarters of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party. There were small scuffles when some pushed up against police lines.

By nightfall, thousands of protesters were at Parliament, chanting anti-government slogans.

The Guardian has more:

A Hungarian law that threatens a leading university with closure is being investigated by the EU executive, as fears grow that Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is