Tens of thousands rallied in Budapest against Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday, waving the national flag as the leader of the surging opposition Tisza party pledged to make Hungary part of a strong Europe and end Orban's 15-year rule.

The right-wing populist prime minister has stepped up his attacks on critics, largely journalists and civil society organizations, since US President Donald Trump entered office.

"There is always an empire that is trying to take away the freedom of the Hungarians, and right now it is the one in Brussels," Viktor Orban said in a speech on Saturday. View on euronews

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban pledged on Saturday to crack down on politicians and journalists who receive foreign funding and again ruled out EU membership for Ukraine, stepping up his campaign for elections due in a year.

In a conspiracy theory-laden address, which coincided with a national holiday commemorating Hungary’s 1848 revolution against Habsburg rule, Viktor Orbán told a group of several thousand select supporters that Hungary in the coming weeks will uproot media outlets and other organizations that have received funding from abroad,

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has promised to rid his country of those he believes are working for the interests of foreign nations. He stated that his right-wing government would dismantle a global "shadow army" serving the European Union and the "liberal American empire,