Major protest in Hungary over Soros university law

Hungary saw the biggest anti-government protest in three years today as tens of thousands demonstrated against a new higher education legislation seen as targeting the respected Central European University.

Some 60,000-70,000 people took part, according to the organisers, many wearing the blue of the CEU and some waving Hungarian, EU as well as US flags as they marched to the government offices in Budapest

The English-language CEU was founded by Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros in the early 1990s, aimed at helping the region's transition from communism to democracy.

The new rules, approved by parliament on Tuesday, bar institutions based outside the European Union from awarding Hungarian diplomats without an agreement between national governments.

They will also be required to have a campus and faculties in their home country -- conditions not met by the CEU, which is registered in the United States.

The legislation has attracted widespread criticism abroad, including from Washington, Brussels and academics. There were also street protests last Sunday and on Tuesday.

"I have no children, but the way they adopted the regulations against this university is frightening," Gabor Kis, 45, a cook, told

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)