BUDAPEST, Hungary, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- A rally protesting the Hungarian government's plan to tax Internet use drew tens of thousands of protesters in Budapest.
The event Sunday turned into a demonstration against pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, with some protesters attacking the headquarters of Orban's Fidesz party by throwing computer parts at the gates of the building. It was the largest anti-government rally since Orban's April re-election.
Leaders of the anti-tax campaign referred to the government's 150 florint (62 cents) per gigabyte planned tax on Internet use as anti-democratic. The rally also was a protest against government corruption, after the United States barred six unidentified Hungarian officials on charges of suspicion of corruption, and the growing centralization of the Hungarian government under Orban.
"Those who use the Internet see more of the world, that's why the government doesn't want a free Internet," organizer Balazs Gulyas told the protesters. "We're not going to pay an Internet tax to a corrupt tax authority." Rally organizers said the tax plan "follows a wave of alarming anti-democratic measures by Orban that is pushing Hungary even further adrift from Europe".
A statement from the party Saturday amended the proposed tax with a cap of 700 florint ($3.10) on individual Internet use. Hungary already has a tax on telephone use.
Windows and gates of the Fidesz party building were damaged in the protest.
''What the protesters did to the building was unbelievable, brutal vandalism. It's not the first time the Fidesz headquarters was attacked but we can hardly recall such severe damage," party spokesman Mate Kocsis said Monday on Hungarian state radio.
