Nick Thorpe
BBC Budapest correspondent
Getty Images
The government has been witnessing the pride march in Budapest for a while
Police banned Hungary’s annual Budapest Pride March later this month, prompting a rebellious response from liberal mayor Gelgary Kalaksony.
“Budapest City Hall will hold the Budapest Pride March as a local event for June 28th,” the mayor vowed.
This is the latest twist in a cat-mouse conflict pitting the Fides government of the city police-supported nationalist prime minister Victor Orban against the Hungarian LGBTQ community and its supporters.
The annual Pride March has been questionable since Orban announced in February that it would not be held this year, and subsequently, a law restricting assembly if it violates the Child Protection Act on the Promotion of Homosexual Public Public.
Kalaksony said police have no right to ban “Freedom Day.” The city council was organized as an umbrella event for pride as it was not based on rules regarding freedom of assembly.
Tens of thousands of people from Hungary and abroad are expected to take part in the June 28th event.
“They may try to ban unicorn queues,” the mayor wrote on Facebook.
Under the new law on gatherings passed in March, all people identified by police as participants using facial recognition software could be fined between £14 and £420.
“Children’s protection outweighs all other laws, and in that spirit we will change the law, create politics, act in the future,” Fidesz Communications chief Tamas Menczer told News Portal 444.
“Pride has nothing to do with freedom of expression or freedom of assembly. Pride is a festival, a festival of a particular sexual community, and is not suitable for being seen by children.”
Szilard Koszticsak/Pool/MTI
The Viktor Orban’s Fidesz government has tried to end the Pride march in Hungary
Viktor Orban announced in his annual national speech last February that Pride organizers “don’t need to be bothered this year.” It continued the following month by law restricting the right to freedom of assembly if it was fouled under the 2021 Child Protection Act.
To avoid that, the Rainbow Mission Foundation, which organizes pride in Hungary and other human rights organizations, announced a series of events in pride and solidarity on June 28th.
However, they continued to speculate with the authorities which event marked pride itself. Police seeking to ban these events have been hindered by Curia, Hungary’s Supreme Court, in two sentences so far.
Gergely Karacsony/Facebook
Budapest Mayor Gelgary Kalaksony (R) announced earlier this week that “Freedom Day” will take place on June 28th
The mayor of Budapest then appeared on June 16 by Budapest Pride spokesman Mate Hegedus in a Facebook joint video to announce the day of freedom, and announced the events from early morning to late evening.
The central event is queueing through the city, and the event is “not a pride,” the mayor wrote to the police.
“There is no track, no dancer, no sexuality in any form.” His assertion was simply “to free the capital of the country.”
That’s what police are currently trying to prevent because minor bystanders may witness processions regardless of the age at which they are actually participating, how they are dressed, or the flag they carry.
It would violate the Child Protection Act, Budapest Police Chief Tamas Terdik argued that a 16-page document issued by police justified the ban.
So, what will actually happen on June 28th?
The Hungary Helsinki Commission (HHC), a human rights group, advised people who go the day to refuse to pay the day’s fine.
They propose who will seek the right to appeal face to face with the police or, if that fails, receive notification in court.
The more people who participate, the less likely the police will try to try this, the HHC argues, as it allows for large backlogs for both the police and the court.
