George Soros Image by Getty Images

Thousands of people took to the streets of Hungary to protest the government’s harsh new legislation being called the “slave law,” and Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros is being accused of funding the marches in his native country, The Guardian reported.

About 10,000 people marched through Budapest to the parliament building in objection to the measure, which allows companies to expect staff work up to 400 hours overtime a year – about an an extra day a week – with compensation delayed up to three years. It was passed in December by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, which controls two-thirds of the votes in Parliament, allowing it to pass nearly any legislation it likes.

The “slave law” legislation has faced united opposition, according to The New York Times, and it has sparked the most protests since Orban entered office in 2010.

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István Hollik, a government spokesman, continued claims that Soros, a liberal financier and philanthropist, was funding the protestors. Soros is often targeted by the government, which made him a bogeyman in a recent campaign about immigration. Another story has Soros, who is Jewish, as an SS member during World War II, a canard which, among others about him, Snopes has debunked.

Soros has given billions to liberal endeavors and pledged to fund a program that helps people find asylum from civil war, poverty or political oppression. Last month, Central European University, founded and funded by Soros after the collapse of the Soviet Union to promote principles of democracy and free society, was forced out of Hungary.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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