Protesters fill Budapest streets

About 6,000 opposition supporters rallied on Sunday to defend Klub Radio, chanting: "Down with censorship."

The station may be shut down within months after it lost its wavelength licence in a disputed sale.

Its managing director Andras Arato said that it "has become the symbol of freedom of speech."

But the rally was dwarfed by the 100,000-strong crowd that gathered outside parliament on Saturday in support of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, which is currently at loggerheads with the unelected European Commission.

Marchers at the front of the massive crowd in Kossuth Square carried a banner reading: "We won't become a colony."

Brussels said last week that it would take action against the right-wing Fidesz government because some new laws broke EU rules.

The commission accused Mr Orban of undermining the independence of the central bank and data protection agency and forcing 200 judges to take early retirement.

If Hungary does not respond to the accusations within a month the commission could take it to the European Court of Justice and try to get it suspended it from the EU.

And the commission has warned that it will not join the International Monetary Fund in providing a standby loan of up to €20 billion (£16.7bn) for the Hungarian government unless it scraps the contested laws.

foreigneditor@peoples-press.com