Are recent protests in Budapest pro-war demonstrations aimed at dragging Hungary into the war in Ukraine? No, that's not true: students and teachers are protesting a new education law.
The claim appeared in a few Tiktok videos by creators belonging to the Megafon Center, a company that produces social-media videos in support of Hungary's governing Fidesz party. One of the videos (archived here) was uploaded by Tamás Kötter, @kottertamas01 on May 11, 2023 with a caption that reads:
This is how they are marketing the pro-war protests
The author asks:
Professional organization, professional message, professional stylist, professional look. Can you smell the marketing here?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon May 15 15:27:39 2023 UTC)
The demonstrations pictured in the video show students and teachers protesting on April 24th and May 4th against a new government education plan, which they say would increase working hours and restrict the rights of teachers to strike.
The protests were organized by a student group, their social media announcements don't mention the war, and media reports say that speakers addressed education issues without mentioning the war.
In his video, Kötter claims that one well-known student protester Lili Pankotai was "invented" by Zoltán Somogyi, a former politician opposed to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's pro-Russia policies who recently made headlines by organizing a pro-Ukraine billboard campaign. Lead Stories has found no evidence to support Kotter's allegation of any affiliation between the student and teacher protests and Mr Somogyi's pro-Ukraine views.
