BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Thousands of people in Hungary have protested against government corruption and to demand the preservation of press freedoms.

Sunday's rally called by civic groups and small opposition parties was held on Free Press Road, a traditional location for protests but made more symbolic by last week's closure of the largest opposition newspaper.

Miklos Hargitai, a journalist from the Nepszabadsag newspaper, said Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government was the only one since the 1990 end of the communist regime "which doesn't tolerate any control or criticism, not even questions." Hargitai said Orban hadn't given an interview to the paper in 10 years.

Publishing company Mediaworks said the newspaper's "considerable" losses led to its closure. Its journalists are still under contract but there's little chance that the paper will reopen.