Hundreds of parents and children at schools run by the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship [MET] have protested the government’s decision to withdraw the operating licenses of the church’s last remaining charitable institutions.

Three schools were closed by order of the Government at the end of August while a fourth was relinquished to the State to keep it operational.

Government authorities cite financial instability, but church members have characterised the decision as retribution for the church’s failure to “toe-the-line” politically and is part of a long-running campaign against the small independent-Methodist denomination, which has 19,000 registered members and operates a network of schools, care homes and homeless shelters located in the country’s poorest communities.

Speaking at a press conference in Budapest last week, MET’s president, Pastor Gabor Ivanyi Snr, said: “What is behind this measure does not serve the interests of Hungary, it does not serve the interests of Hungarian education, and it does not serve the interests of the children in the least.”

Recent events, Ivanyi added, reflected “quite disgusting political game-playing and evil politicking.”