Thousands take part in anti-government protest in Hungary

Supporters of three opposition parties Dialogue for Hungary (PM), Together and ‘Politic Can Be Different’ attend a demonstration organized against corruption and to express solidarity with Hungarian political daily Nepszabadsag in downtown Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016. On Oct. 8, the publishing company Mediaworks suspended the publication of both the print and online editions of the Nepszabadsag due to the paper’s accumulated over 5 billion forints (EUR 16.4m) in losses since 2007, until it comes up with a new business model. Placards say: “Together”. (Balazs Mohai/MTI via AP)

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Thousands of people in Hungary have protested against government corruption and to demand the preservation of press freedoms.

Sunday’s rally called by civic groups and small opposition parties was held on Free Press Road, a traditional location for protests but made more symbolic by last week’s closure of the largest opposition newspaper.

Miklos Hargitai, a journalist from the Nepszabadsag newspaper, said Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government was the only one since the 1990 end of the communist regime “which doesn’t tolerate any control or criticism, not even questions.” Hargitai said Orban hadn’t given an interview to the paper in 10 years.

Publishing company Mediaworks said the newspaper’s “considerable” losses led to its closure. Its journalists are still under contract but there’s little chance that the paper will reopen.