Demonstrators protest planned constitutional amendments

Budapest, March 9 (MTI) - A demonstration organised by civil groups against planned amendments to Hungary s constitution took place in the street in front of parliament in the afternoon on Saturday.

Several thousand demonstrators gathered in front of a stage erected in Alkotmany (Constitution) Street, among them former Budapest mayor Gabor Demszky.

The main speaker at the event, advertised with the motto "the constitution is not a game", was the writer Miklos Tamas Gaspar.

The demonstrators held placards on which were written "Fair constitution!", "Racism and anti-Semitism is a deadly sin" and "Constitution, democracy, rule of law!".

Opposition green party LMP told MTI on Saturday that the party s members and sympathisers would participate at the demonstration.

The invitation to the demonstration posted on Facebook said protestors wanted to speak out about constitutionality and the rule of law, family rights, higher education and the defense of the homeless and the poor.

MTI s correspondent at the event saw police checking several youth near parliament dressed in black and standing under a flag with the Arpad stripes, the coat of arms of Hungary s medieval Arpad dynasty which has also been associated by many with Hungary s short-lived fascist government in WWII.

Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the amendments to the constitution on Monday.

If parliament passes the 15 pages of amendments all Constitutional Court rulings prior to it will be annulled, though their legal effects will remain in force. Its judges will be able to align future rulings with ones predating the new basic law but they can make new ones too.

The court scrapped several transitional laws on technical grounds and it is now proposed that these be inserted into the basic law.