Hungary's Orban government moves to stem fallout from juvenile centre abuse case

Hungary's government has put state-run juvenile detention centres under direct police oversight, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff said on Wednesday, trying to stem the political fallout from an abuse scandal at one such facility.

Opposition leader Peter Magyar, whose Tisza party is leading opinion polls ahead of an election likely in April, on Tuesday urged Orban to resign and called for early elections after an opposition activist, a former lawmaker, published a video showing physical abuse at a juvenile detention centre in Budapest.

"The government decided at its meeting yesterday that the current management (of these institutions) within the social care system is not sufficient, as it failed to prevent these crimes," Gergely Gulyas told a briefing.

"Therefore, the government decided that these five juvenile detention centres ... will be placed under direct police supervision."

Gulyas said the interior minister informed the government that prosecutors were investigating the case.

In a separate statement late on Tuesday the prosecutor's office said three people had been detained at the state-run Budapest juvenile centre and promised to release further information on Wednesday.

VIDEO TRIGGERS RESIGNATION

The video published by the former lawmaker led to the resignation of the centre’s acting director.

Prosecutors have been investigating the former director of the same Budapest centre for months, on suspicion of running a prostitution ring, money laundering and human trafficking.

Opposition leader Magyar on Wednesday called for a demonstration for Saturday to march to Orban's office in the Budapest castle district in protest.

Magyar launched his Tisza party last year after a scandal that led to the resignation of President Katalin Novak, an Orban ally, when it emerged she had granted a pardon in a child sex abuse case. The episode marked a rare and major political setback for Orban, who has been in power since 2010.