Budapest protests: Thousands of demonstrators march through capital for fourth day of anti-government protests

Several thousand protesters marched through Budapest for a fourth day to protests against laws promoted by the Hungarian government that critics say have undermined democracy.

The protesters chanted anti-government slogans and braved sub-zero temperatures on Sunday while gathered in front of parliament.

Speakers at the demonstration denounced revised overtime rules that MPs approved on Wednesday, which protesters say will restrict workers’ rights.

The changes increased the maximum amount of overtime workers can do a year from 250 to 400 hour, to offset Hungary's growing labour shortage and gave employers three years instead of one to settle payments of accrued overtime.

Since the first protest on Wednesday night and others held Thursday and Friday, the demonstrations have evolved to encompass other policies of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, including another bill passed Wednesday that establishes a separate court for administrative matters.

A government spokesman said citizens had a constitutional right to assemble freely as long as laws were not broken in the process.

On Thursday, some protesters threw bottles and smoke bombs at officers in riot gear guarding the neo-Gothic parliament building. Police said two officers were injured.

The demonstrations have attracted people from across Hungary's spectrum.

They include members of Jobbik, which started out as a radical right movement and has worked to reframe itself as a "people's" party and a clutch of left and liberal opposition parties, trade unions and supporters of a Budapest university founded by Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros.

Central European University announced this month it was leaving Hungary for Austria, saying it had been "chased out" by Orban's government.

After Sunday's official protest ended, hundreds of demonstrators marched across the Danube River, blocking at least two major road bridges and flanked by police.

One faction, chanting for a free media, declared it was heading for the state television building, four miles away in a north-western suburb of the Hungarian capital.

Orban's allies have denounced the protests as the work of liberal organisations financed by Soros

Gergely Gulyas, the prime minister's chief of staff, called Thursday night's participants Soros's "kept people" displaying "open anti-Christian hatred".