Tens of thousands of protesters marched on Saturday through the capital of Hungary, when the Rally 2SLGBTQ+ Rally broke up into a mass demonstration against the government.
Crowds filled the square near the town hall of Budapest, before it set off around the city, some waving rainbow flags, others carrying signs of mockery from Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
“There is a lot more, not just homosexuality … This is the last moment to defend our rights,” said Eszter Rein Bodi, one of the marching.
“None of us is free until everyone is free,” we read one sign.
Small groups of counterprotens tried to disrupt the parade, but the police kept them from afar and turned their way to the march to avoid clashes.
The nationalist government of Orban has gradually limited the laws of the 2SLGBTQ+ community over the past decade, and its legislators adopted a law in March, which allows the ban on the march of pride, citing the need to protect children.
Opponents perceive this movement within the wider repression of democratic freedoms before the national elections next year, when Orban faces a strong opposition pretender.
The organizers said that participants came from 30 countries, including 70 members of the European Parliament.
Over 30 embassies expressed support for the President of the March and European Ursula von der Leyen Commission, called the Hungarian authorities to permission to Parade.
Seventy Hungarian groups of civil society, including the Hungarian Association of Civic Freedom, Transparency International Hungary and Hungarian Helsinki Commission, published on Friday an open letter to support the march, saying that the law that led to the police ban is “used to intimidate the whole society.”
The mayor will withdraw the march
“The right to the congregation is the basic human right and I do not think that he is banned. Only because someone does not like the reason why you go out into the street, or do not agree with it, you still have the right,” said Krisztina Aranya, another march.
The mayor of Budapest Gergely Kararsony tried to bypass the law, organizing a march as a city event, which, he said, does not need permission. However, the police banned the events, arguing that it was subject to the scope of children's protection law.
Orban, whose government promotes the Christian-Conservative Program, presented on Friday some tips on what participants can expect when he warned about “legal consequences” for organizations and participation in the march.
At the beginning of this week, the Minister of Justice Bence Teson warned in a letter sent to some foreign embassies in Budapest that organizing the prohibited event is punished for a year in prison, while participating in the offense.
The law, which allows you to ban pride, allows the police to impose a fine and use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend. When asked about the threat of an annual prison, Kararacsony said on Friday to media briefing that such a sentence would only increase his popularity.
“But I can't take it seriously,” he said.
Zoltan Novak, an analyst at the Center for Fair Political Analysis Think Tank on a march, which is a key topic of political discourse, allowed the Orban government to recover the initiative and mobilize the election base.
“Over the past 15 years, Fidesz has decided what topics dominated the political world,” he said, noting that it became more difficult, because Orban's party faced the growing challenge from the opposition party of Peter Magyar, which has a 15-point advantage over Fidesz Orban in a recent survey.
Tisza, who avoided taking a strong position on issues related to gay rights, did not specify in response to the Reuters' questions, or believes that the march of pride is lawful, but stated that he attends the protection of the state.
“Peter Magyar called the Hungarian authorities and the police to protect Hungary on Saturday, as well as on other days, even if it means opposing the arbitrary power,” said the party's media office. Magyar himself did not participate.