Hungary's Orban government moves to stem fallout

Hungary's government has put state-run juvenile detention centres under direct police oversight, this according to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff, trying to stem the political fallout from an abuse scandal at one such facility.



Opposition leader Peter Magyar, whose Tisza party is leading opinion polls ahead of an election likely in April, urged Orban to resign and called for early elections after an opposition activist, a former lawmaker, published a video showing physical abuse at a juvenile detention centre in Budapest.



The interior minister informed the government that prosecutors were investigating the case.



In a separate statement late on Tuesday the prosecutor's office said three people had been detained at the state-run Budapest juvenile centre and promised to release further information.



The video published by the former lawmaker led to the resignation of the centre’s acting director.



Prosecutors have been investigating the former director of the same Budapest centre for months, on suspicion of running a prostitution ring, money laundering and human trafficking.