Giant crowd at Pride in Budapest defies repressive new Hungarian law

BUDAPEST - Tens of thousands of Hungarians, including members of the LGBTQ+ community and their supporters from Brussels and around the world, marched in a Pride parade in Budapest on Saturday, defying efforts to ban the event by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a self-declared “illiberal” Christian conservative whose Fidesz party adopted draconian legislation in March banning public events that portray or allegedly promote homosexuality.

The attempt to prohibit the event appeared to backfire. While there were no official estimates of crowd size, frequent attendees said they had never seen anything like the throngs that filled more than a mile of central Budapest and that it was clearly the largest Pride event in the city’s history.

Police warned repeatedly in recent days that the event was illegal and prohibited but there were no signs of arrests or fines. Instead, the police seemed to be working to maintain distance between the huge crowd of Pride supporters marching in a parade and smaller number of antigay counter protesters, some carrying bibles and crucifixes.

The law, adopted under the guise of protecting children, restricted the right of freedom of assembly and authorized the use of facial recognition technology to identify and punish participants in events that violate an earlier “child protection act” that outlawed displays of “divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality.”

The legislation singled out Pride festivities, which have taken place annually in June in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, generally without incident since 1995. The repressive law, which drew sharp rebukes from European Union officials in Brussels, was widely viewed in Hungary as an effort by Fidesz to outflank a new, rival conservative party aiming to challenge Orban in elections next year. Orban had told organizers not to bother planning Pride this year.

Organizers of the event, however, refused to back down and immediately announced their attention to defy the ban. Budapest’s liberal mayor, Gergely Karacsony, quickly stepped in with assistance by declaring this weekend’s festivities to be an official municipal event, renamed Budapest Pride Freedom, to commemorate the withdrawal of Soviet troops and Hungary’s full emergence from behind the Iron Curtain in June 1991.

In an interview, Karacsony said the capital city would stand united in defiance of repression. “The strength and greatness of Budapest lie in its diversity,” he said. “As Pope Francis once said about the city: Unity in Budapest does not mean uniformity, but uniqueness. This is the essence of being a Budapester; this is the city’s DNA - unity in diversity.”

“In Budapest, everyone has the freedom to be the protagonist of their own story, defined by their own values, culture, and abilities,” Karacsony added. “And we know: In a free society, citizens care not only for their own freedom, but above all for one another’s. These are the values that put this city in direct opposition to the Orban government.”

By midafternoon, thousands of people were on the streets marching in an enormous sea of rainbow colors. An two hours after the beginning of the parade, the starting point was still filled with marchers waiting to set off.

Among those to attend were an array of European Union politicians who came to demonstrate support for human rights and individual liberties guaranteed by the bloc’s treaties.

On Saturday morning, police reiterated thewarnings that the event was prohibited and participants could face legal repercussions, Some organizers expressed concern that facial recognition technology could be used to identify participants and penalize them after the event, likely by imposing fines.

During the event, police formed a line blocking the original parade route in what appeared to be a measure to keep Pride supporters and antigay demonstrators apart.

“Today is not about LGBTQ+ people, but that the aggressive, far-left propaganda must be stopped,” said Gabor Kelemen, vice president of Hatvannegy Varmegye Youth Movement, a coalition of right-wing, antigay groups, told journalists according to 24.HU, an online Hungarian news outlet.

The light touch by police potentially reflected concern by Orban that he would be blamed for any violence or injuries.

Orban’s conservative rival, Péter Magyar, the chairman of the Tisza Party, issued a statement warning that if anyone was hurt in Budapest “Viktor Orbán alone will be responsible.”

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Ishaan Tharoor in Washington contributed to this report.