A row involving Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his ex-college roommate, tycoon Lajos Simicska, has spilled onto the streets of Budapest as city authorities remove advertising pillars owned by the businessman.
Demolition crews on trucks with cranes were seen on the streets of the Hungarian capital uprooting columns owned by Simicska's Mahir Cityposter advertising firm, over 600 of which are dotted around the city.
Last September Budapest City Hall voted to approve the early termination of a 25-year-contract with Mahir and remove the columns if the firm had not done so itself by December 31.
Since the removals began last week, security personnel hired by Mahir have tried to form human chains around some of the structures, forcing City Hall to request police assistance.
On Monday, a case against City Hall by Mahir began, with the company arguing that the termination of the advertising contract was illegal.
City Hall says the contracts were financially disadvantageous for the city and that Mahir failed to comply with the terms.
A ruling is expected on March 1.
Relations between Orban and the powerful Simicska, a former treasurer of the ruling Fidesz party, began to sour after Orban was re-elected as premier in 2014.
The government introduced a tax on advertising revenues that year that hurt Simicska's interests, including leading conservative daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet which called the tax a "step on the throat of press freedom".
Simicska later insulted Orban in an expletive-laden rant on live radio soon after Magyar Nemzet staff left en masse to join public media.
The media magnate, who has hinted Orban may have been a communist informer during the 1980s -- a charge dismissed by the prime minister -- has also been battling with another Orban ally, the Hollywood producer Andy Vajna, for ownership of one of Hungary's top commercial TV stations, TV2.
A row involving Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his ex-college roommate, tycoon Lajos Simicska, has spilled onto the streets of Budapest as city authorities remove advertising pillars owned by the businessman.
Demolition crews on trucks with cranes were seen on the streets of the Hungarian capital uprooting columns owned by Simicska’s Mahir Cityposter advertising firm, over 600 of which are dotted around the city.
Last September Budapest City Hall voted to approve the early termination of a 25-year-contract with Mahir and remove the columns if the firm had not done so itself by December 31.
Since the removals began last week, security personnel hired by Mahir have tried to form human chains around some of the structures, forcing City Hall to request police assistance.
On Monday, a case against City Hall by Mahir began, with the company arguing that the termination of the advertising contract was illegal.
City Hall says the contracts were financially disadvantageous for the city and that Mahir failed to comply with the terms.
A ruling is expected on March 1.
Relations between Orban and the powerful Simicska, a former treasurer of the ruling Fidesz party, began to sour after Orban was re-elected as premier in 2014.
The government introduced a tax on advertising revenues that year that hurt Simicska’s interests, including leading conservative daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet which called the tax a “step on the throat of press freedom”.
Simicska later insulted Orban in an expletive-laden rant on live radio soon after Magyar Nemzet staff left en masse to join public media.
The media magnate, who has hinted Orban may have been a communist informer during the 1980s — a charge dismissed by the prime minister — has also been battling with another Orban ally, the Hollywood producer Andy Vajna, for ownership of one of Hungary’s top commercial TV stations, TV2.
