(ANSA-AFP) - BUDAPEST, 25 JUL - Dozens of journalists walked out of Hungary's top independent news site on Friday in protest at the removal of its editor-in-chief, with some warning the events marked the "destruction" of yet another pillar of press freedom. Index.hu is Hungary's most-read news portal and a rare independent voice in a media landscape increasingly controlled by allies of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. On Wednesday, its editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull was fired, with management claiming he had leaked internal documents to other media. That prompted three senior editors to resign on Friday, followed by more than 80 journalists -- the overwhelming majority of the newsroom. In a statement, the site's journalists condemned Dull's dismissal as "an overt attempt to apply pressure on Index". Miklos Hargitai, president of the Hungarian journalists' association, said that the events meant "another dominant Hungarian institution is in the process of being dismantled, occupied and destroyed by (Orban's right-wing) Fidesz" party. Index tweeted photos of distraught journalists in tears and hugging each other as the resignations were announced.

On Friday evening around 3,000 protesters turned out in central Budapest to express their support for the journalists. Index has roughly two million readers per day in a country of just under 10 million. (ANSA-AFP). (ANSA).