Hungary's Fidesz Party Blames Socialists, Soros For Violent Street Protests

After police arrested dozens of demonstrators who tried to storm the Hungarian Parliament in Budapest earlier this week, the country’s ruling Fidesz Party has blamed socialist lawmakers and liberal billionaire George Soros - whose "Open Society Foundation" was recently driven out of the country by a series of laws penalizing foreign interlopers in Hungarian politics - for stoking civil unrest in response to reforms to labor laws and the country’s judiciary that were recently passed by parliament.

Since the laws passed Parliament on Tuesday despite opposition lawmakers’ attempts to stymie the vote with harassment tactics (one lawmaker even blocked the speaker’s podium in an attempt to stop the vote), police in Budapest have struggled to repel large crowds of demonstrators. Some of the protesters have even put on masks despite organizers of the demonstration asking participants not to cover their face.

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