An estimated 100,000 march in Budapest Pride in defiance of Hungary’s ban

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Around 100,000 people defied a government ban and police orders Saturday to march in what organizers called the largest LGBTQ+ Pride event in Hungary’s history in an open rebuke of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government.

Marchers threatened with potential police intervention and heavy fines participated in the 30th annual Budapest Pride, which was outlawed by a law passed in March by Orban’s right-wing governing party.

The march began at city hall and wound through the Budapest city center before crossing the capital’s Erzsebet Bridge over the Danube River. Police diverted the crowd from its planned route to keep it separated from a small group of far-right counterprotesters, while members of Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community and large numbers of supporters danced to music and waved rainbow and antigovernment flags.

One marcher, Blanka Molnar, said it was “a fantastic feeling” that more people had attended the Pride march than ever before despite it being outlawed. She said it was “increasingly important” for Hungarians, “even those who have never been to Pride before,” to voice their opposition the government’s policies.

“This isn’t just about LGBTQ+ rights, it’s also about the right to assemble and about standing up for each other and not allowing [the government] to oppress us,” she said.

The massive turnout for the march, which the government for months had declared would no longer be permitted in Hungary, was seen as a major blow to Orban’s prestige, as the European Union’s longest-serving leader’s popularity slumps in the polls and a new opposition force has taken the lead.

Orban — a hero to U.S. conservatives and a close ally of President Trump — and his party have insisted that Pride, a celebration of LGBTQ+ visibility and struggle for equal rights, was a violation of children’s rights to moral and spiritual development. A recent constitutional amendment declared that those children’s rights took precedence over other fundamental rights, including that to peacefully assemble.

The law fast-tracked through parliament in March made it an offense to hold or attend events that “depict or promote” homosexuality to minors under age 18. Orban earlier made clear that Budapest Pride was the explicit target of the law.

Authorities installed additional cameras throughout the city center before the march, and were expected to use facial recognition tools to identify participants in the banned event. According to the new law, being caught attending Pride could result in fines of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints, the equivalent of about $586.

The ban was the latest crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights by Orban’s government, which has already essentially banned same-sex adoption and same-sex marriage and disallowed transgender people from changing their sex in official documents.

Police rejected several requests by organizers in recent weeks to register the Pride march, citing the recent law. But Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony joined with organizers and declared it would be held as a separate municipal event — something that he said doesn’t require police approval.

But Hungary’s government has remained firm, insisting that holding the Pride march, even if it’s sponsored by the city, would be unlawful. Hungary’s justice minister this week warned Karacsony that organizing Pride or encouraging people to attend would be punishable by up to a year in prison.

Many marchers expressed their belief that the Pride march represented a struggle not just for the protections of the rights of sexual minorities but for the democratic future of their country.

Participant Zsofia Szeker said the size of the crowd showed that a major part of society desires a new direction for Hungary.

“I think we can only achieve change if so many people take to the streets,” she said.

Spike writes for the Associated Press.