The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said on Wednesday that teachers who had been “unlawfully fired” must be given their jobs back. Referring to nationwide protests, party spokesman Balázs Barkóczi called it “marvellous that thousands of teachers and students protest against the general state of public education and humiliating wages”. He told an online press conference that it was an “important lesson to the Orbán regime” that protest and strike could not be banned, and “free people cannot be intimidated or silenced”. Barkóczi, who holds the position of education and culture minister in the party’s shadow cabinet, said it was time that the government admitted it had “lost” against teachers and “lost control of the country”. He called on the government to start talks with teachers’ unions.