Protest in Hungary against latest Fidesz constitution

A huge numbers of people have been demonstrating in Budapest over Hungary's contentious new constitution, a day after it came into force.

The country's ruling Fidesz party derived the constitutional bill through parliament in April after acquiring a two-thirds mainstream in parliamentary polls.

The rivals say it intimidates democracy by eliminating checks and balances structure in 1989 when Communism decline.

The EU and United States had also demanded for the law to be withdrawn.

The clash has cast uncertainty over discussions on a new financing contract with the EU and IMF, seen as imperative for market trust in the central European country.

But the financial disaster facing Hungary surpasses both the government's plans and the opposition demonstrations, says the BBC's Nick Thorpe in Budapest.

Fidesz won the elections assuring to establish a million places of work - but there has been no development until now.

And as the public temperature deteriorates, so do the country's ratings, and the opportunities of magnetizing oversees investment, and setting up new jobs, our correspondent says.

Many centre-left opposition parties together with the agitations, held near a gala event arranged by the government to celebrate the new law. Demonstrators chanted slogans disparaging the centre-right Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, and carried placards disapproving his "dictatorship" as bureaucrats arrived for the event.

"Viktor Orban and his executives turned Hungary from a capable place to the darkest spot in Europe," said Socialist MP Tibor Szanyi, referred by AFP news agency.

Features of the fresh law and complementary laws which have come in for condemnation include:

A preface committed to protecting the intellectual and spiritual harmony of the nation, which professionals warn could be a future cause of stress

The enclosure of social matters - like the rights of the unborn child, marriage between a man and a woman, and the meaning of life sentences - which authorities say should be left to principled debates within society

The rephrasing of the electoral system, in a way which rivals say supports Fidesz

But Fidesz says the newly law, or fundamental law, enhances the legal structure of life in Hungary.

In spite of political debates we consider it is a significant cost that for the first time, a liberally elected parliament established the Basic Law," said Fidesz MP Gergely Gulyas, quoted by the Reuters news agency.

Mr. Gulyas co-wrote the latest constitution and guided it through parliament.