They tried to ban Pride. Instead, they got Hungary’s biggest anti-government protest in years

The event marked the 30th anniversary of Budapest Pride, which had been held annually since 1995 with little incident. But this year’s government crackdown, paired with mounting political pressure ahead of next year’s national election, turned the parade into a broader protest against Orban’s rule.

Orban, who has held power for 15 years, has increasingly positioned his Fidesz party as a defender of traditional Christian values, often singling out LGBTQ people, migrants and Brussels bureaucrats as threats to Hungary’s way of life. On Friday morning, just ahead of the planned march, he posted a photo with his grandchildren, captioned: “This is what I am proud of.”

But the attempt to frame the Pride event as a threat to children has drawn criticism both at home and abroad.

“It is a duty of all progressive governments to stand in the way when there are attacks against fundamental rights,” Spanish Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun, who marched alongside Hungary’s opposition leaders. His colleague, Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz, went further, accusing the European Commission of inaction.

“First, the government of Spain is here, defending human rights and democracy,” Diaz told Politico. “Second, denouncing the complicity of the European Commission. And third, sending a message not only to Europe, but to the rest of the world.”

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Political analyst Gabor Torok wrote on Facebook that the heavy-handed response had cost the government public support.

“Orban’s attacks on Pride initially increased his popularity,” he said. “But opinion shifted after the police ban and the legal debates surrounding the march.”

Orban’s biggest political threat, former Fidesz insider Peter Magyar, did not attend the event but, in a statement, accused the prime minister of trying “to turn Hungarian against Hungarian, in order to create fear and divide us”.

Civil rights groups and several EU politicians have called on the European Commission to launch legal proceedings against Hungary for its use of surveillance and for restricting the right to assembly.

“Words are not enough,” said Iratxe Garcia Perez, leader of the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament. “We need action. And action means that the European Commission start the infringement procedure against this law.”

Although Australia no longer maintains a permanent diplomatic presence in Budapest, its non-resident ambassador to Hungary, Ian Biggs, based in Vienna, recently reaffirmed Canberra’s support for LGBTQ rights.

The foreign ministries of Australia, Canada, Brazil and a host of European countries issued a statement on Saturday celebrating LGBTQ rights to coincide with Pride Day.

“At a time when hate speech and hate crimes are on the rise, and in view of efforts to strip LGBTQI people of their rights, we reject all forms of violence, criminalisation, stigmatisation or discrimination, which constitute human rights violations,” the statement said.

with Reuters

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