Police ban "Pride Parade" in Budapest, but mayor says it will go ahead

(Patria) - Police have banned Hungary's annual "Pride Parade" (Pride) in Budapest later this month, drawing a response from liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony, the BBC reported.

"The Budapest City Hall will organize the Pride Parade in Budapest as a local event on June 28, period," the mayor promised.

This is the latest twist in the conflict between Prime Minister Viktor Orban's nationalist Fidesz government, supported by the city police, and Hungary's LGBTQ community and its supporters.

The annual parade has been in question since Orban announced in February that it would not be held this year, followed by the adoption of a law restricting gatherings if they violate child protection laws regarding the public promotion of homosexuality.

Karacsony said the police have no right to ban "Freedom Day," which the city council organized as an umbrella event for the parade, as it does not fall under the rules of freedom of assembly. Tens of thousands of people from Hungary and abroad are expected to participate in the June 28 event.

"They might as well try to ban a unicorn parade," the mayor wrote on
Facebook.

According to the new assembly law, adopted in March, anyone identified by the police as a participant using facial recognition software could be fined between 16 and 490 euros.

"Child protection is above all other laws. And in that spirit, we have changed the laws, we are creating policy and we will act in the future," Fidesz communications chief Tamas Menczer told the news portal 444. "Pride has nothing to do with freedom of expression or freedom of assembly... Pride is a festival, a festival of a certain sexual community, which is not suitable for children to watch."

Viktor Orban announced in his annual state of the nation address last February that Pride organizers "don't have to worry this year." The following month, a law was passed restricting the right to freedom of assembly if it violated the 2021 Child Protection Act.

To circumvent this, the Rainbow Mission foundation, which organizes Pride in Hungary, and other human rights groups, announced a series of events on June 28 in solidarity with Pride.

But the authorities kept the public in suspense about which event would mark Pride itself. Police attempts to ban these events have been thwarted by the Hungarian Supreme Court, the Curia, in two previous rulings. Budapest Mayor then appeared on June 16 with Budapest Pride spokesperson Mate Hegedus in a joint Facebook video, announcing their Freedom Day, with events from early morning to late evening.

The central event was supposed to be a procession through the city, and the event "is not Pride," the mayor wrote to the police. "There will be no trucks, no dancers, no sexuality in any form." The purpose, he claimed, was simply to "liberate the nation's capital."

This is what the police are now trying to prevent, arguing that underage passers-by could witness the procession, regardless of the age of those actually participating, how they are dressed, or what banners they carry. This would violate the child protection law, argued Budapest Police Chief Tamas Terdik in a sixteen-page document issued by the police, justifying the ban.

The human rights group Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) advised anyone attending the event to refuse to pay on-the-spot fines. They suggest anyone receiving a notice by mail request the right to appeal to the police or the court if that fails.

The more people participate, the less likely the police are to attempt this, according to the HHC, as it could create a huge backlog for both the police and the courts.