The invitation said arrival should be by 2:30. But many suspected that might be a tad late if they wanted to grab a seat inside the MTK Sports Park’s arena for the Viktor Orbán–JD Vance rally yesterday. In fact, such a huge crowd showed up that the queue seemed to be stretching endlessly outside the venue located in central Budapest.
As people waited patiently to be screened before entering (security was tight, but not exceptionally so), a score of reporters representing government-critical domestic and international media approached them for short interviews. And interviews they got. As far as the author of this article could see, no one responded angrily or impatiently—a notable departure from the norm these days in Hungary, where opposition rally participants typically respond that way when approached by pro-government outlets and influencers.