Thousands rally against Hungary's overtime work law, PM Orban
People take part in a protest against a proposed new labor law, billed as the "slave law", in Budapest, Hungary, January 5, 2019
Thousands marched through Budapest's city center on Saturdayto protest against a new law that allows employers to ask staff to work up to 400 hours per year of overtime.
Opposition groups have staged several rallies in the past weeks in the Hungarian capital and other cities against what they said was an authoritarian rule of conservative nationalist Viktor Orban.
Saturday's rally, organized by opposition parties, trade unions and civic groups, mainly targeted the new labor law dubbed by critics as "slave law."
The modification to the labor code passed by parliament last month has faced intense criticism and sparked the biggest street protest in over a year. Potentially, it could add two extra hours to an average work day, or the equivalent of an extra workday per week.
The past weeks' anti-government rallies were also against a law that sets up new courts which critics say could be politically manipulated, and against bias in state-controlled media.
The earlier protests have been mostly peaceful, though there were some clashes with police who used tear gas.
The ruling Fidesz party reiterated in a statement on Thursday that the protests were part of a campaign for the European Parliament elections in May to help those who support mass migration into the European Union.
Fidesz won Hungarian elections with a landslide last year, with the ticket of resisting mass immigration into the EU.