Hungarians took to the streets of central Budapest on Sunday to protest plans to overhaul the country's leading scientific research body, which they see as part of a wider government attempt to curb academic freedom.
Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who took power in 2010, has tightened controls over public life, including the courts, the media, universities and scientific research, putting him on a collision course with the European Union.
In its latest move, the government has said it plans to strip the 200-year-old Hungarian Academy of Sciences of its network of research institutions and hand over their buildings and assets to a new governing council. News website Index.hu reported Tuesday that the government is now drawing up draft legislation for the plan.