We wanted to ask Viktor Orbán some questions, but were instead taken in by the police

In the past 15 years, it has only been possible to intercept Viktor Orbán for a few questions here and there, at public events. The only regular occasion when an independent journalist has at least 5-10 minutes to ask the Prime Minister questions has been at his annual press conference, at the end of each year. However, in an unprecedented way, at this particular press conference last year, Telex was not permitted to ask questions. On 30 January 2025, we tried to ask Viktor Orbán some questions in Fót, where the Prime Minister went to officially open a film studio that cost 42 billion forints, and which is the biggest ever publicly funded investment in the film industry in Hungary. My colleague, Noémi Gombos and I registered for the event and planned to ask the Prime Minister about the current state of the healthcare system before the studio's opening.

The event was open to the press and we waited in the parking lot. We had been waiting there for more than an hour, but then, just before Viktor Orbán arrived, the representatives of TEK (the Counter-Terrorism Center) told us that we could not wait there because we were on a protected route and should proceed into the building and stand in the area cordoned off for the press. This would have made it impossible to ask our questions, so we decided to remain in the parking lot. They then called in a security guard, to whom we pointed out that no one had had a problem with us being there for a long time and that we felt it was important to be able to ask the Prime Minister our questions, for which there seemed to be no other opportunity.

Meanwhile, Viktor Orbán's press chief, Bertalan Havasi came up to us twice: the first time he told us that we could either go inside the building or leave, and the second time he told us that our accreditation had been withdrawn. When the security guard failed to remove us, the police were summoned and my colleague and I were taken to the Dunakeszi Police Station. We were there for three hours, and an infringement procedure was initiated against the two of us.

During the day we were given several different reasons for why we should leave the parking lot. First we were allowed into the film studio and it was not a problem that we were waiting in the parking lot. After more than an hour we were told that we could not be there due to the arrival of a protected person, so we should go to the area designated for the press. Our accreditation was then withdrawn, the reason being that we were not abiding by the rules set by the organisers, and in the end the police officer who came argued that we were on private property where the organiser sets the rules – so the police officers did not justify our detention with us having obstructed the arrival of a protected person.

If we only look back at the past year, it shows that it is completely unpredictable how members of the government will react to a similar situation, when we want to ask them questions at a time and place they might not like. A month and a half ago, in Soltvadkert, we were able to ask the Prime Minister about Putin and the ceasefire quite easily, while walking down the street after a public event. On another occasion, the Prime Minister's Press Chief refused to let us in, but eventually changed his mind: that happened last May at one of Viktor Orbán's campaign events, but in November as well. At that time, the Minister of National Economy, Márton Nagy, wanted to have us escorted out of his public event, but we stayed and in the end, the Minister even gave us an interview.

In April, Viktor Orbán gave the opening speech at the event of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce: on that occasion, we were already waiting in the car park when he arrived, and on his way out, the Prime Minister stopped for a minute and a half to answer our questions. But it also happened last year that we were allowed into another of the Prime Minister's campaign events, where the Prime Minister did not answer any of our questions and the Director-General of the TEK pulled a strange trick on us. And, of course, it was also in May last year that they tried to keep us away from Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó by wanting to check our camera "to make sure it is not stolen". But until yesterday, it had never happened that we ended up being taken away by the police after we had waited in a car park.

We continue to believe that, as responsible journalists, we cannot accept the authorities constantly putting us behind a cordon and only allowing us to ask questions when we are called on to do so. This is what our readers expect of us, and what we expect of ourselves: to ask questions under any circumstances – and to not be told to 'leave the scene' in response.