The prime minister has long used populism and anti-immigrant measures to rally small-town support, even as Budapest turned against him. Now, that’s changing. The freezing cold and falling snow didn’t stop nearly 1,000 demonstrators from hitting the streets last Friday to protest Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s autocratic government. They chanted slogans — “Orbán begone” and “Filthy Fidesz” (a reference to Orbán’s party) among them. They threw eggs at the entrance of a newspaper viewed as the mouthpiece of state-controlled propaganda. But the scenes weren’t from Budapest, where massive protests against Orbán have grabbed the world’s attention. These protesters were in Pécs, a southwestern university town that was once a Fidesz stronghold. For years, Orbán and his party have used populist chants, anti-immigrant measures and increasingly open Islamophobia and anti-Semitic rhetoric — George Soros is a frequent punching bag — to rally rural and small-town voters even as capital Budapest turned against them. But a controversial recently passed law — dubbed a “slave law” by critics, it allows employers to demand 400 hours of annual overtime from workers — is threatening to tilt the scales against Orbán, eight months after he swept back to power for the third time. | 