Rowdy protesters did their best to interrupt a gay pride parade through central Budapest on Saturday, but were prevented by a massive coordinated operation by riot police.
However, there were sporadic outbreaks of unrest around the event, with some of the several hundred demonstrators pelting police with stones and burning the rainbow-flag used by the parade organizers.
Riot police were able to quickly disperse the several hundred demonstrators through sheer force of numbers and the occasional volley of tear gas.
During one fracas, an English man was punched after getting into a row with a group of some 20 anti-gay protesters, police told local news agency MTI.
Riot police broke up the altercation, and the man was taken away for medical attention.
A 60-year-old man among the anti-gay demonstrators was knocked down as the crowd was pushed back by riot police, and had to be taken by stretcher to an ambulance.
About 2,000 participants, an international mix of activists and sympathizers, including former Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany and his wife, gathered in the early afternoon on Budapest’s landmark Heroes’ Square before marching along a broad avenue into central Budapest.
Two-meter-high metal fences lined the entire 4km parade route.
All side streets onto Andrassy Road, the Hungarian capital’s answer to the Champs Elysees in Paris, were blocked by barriers manned by riot police.
Anti-gay protesters were unable to get anywhere near the parade.
Tourists, including Swedish soccer fans in town for the evening’s World Cup qualifier against Hungary, found themselves wandering around in bewilderment as they were prevented from reaching many of the Hungarian capital’s attractions.
A similar parade last year was disrupted by violent gangs who screamed abuse and pelted the participants with eggs and bottles before starting pitched battles with riot police, who responded to petrol bombs and stones with tear gas.
Among those who expressed solidarity with the participants in this year’s 14th gay and lesbian parade was the American actress Whoopi Goldberg, who sent a videotaped message of support earlier in the week.
The embassies of Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US earlier issued a joint letter of support for the Budapest Pride Festival, of which Saturday’s parade was the finale.
The British embassy has been particularly vocal recently in its condemnation of racist and homophobic extremist groups in Hungary.
British Ambassador to Hungary Greg Dorey hosted a tea party on Wednesday, attended by staff from the supporting embassies, organizers, organizations such as Amnesty International and Hungarian public figures.
“Sometimes it is those who make the most fuss about the perceived treatment of Hungarians abroad who are most vocal, and sometimes physical, in abusing the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people here — without even seeing the inconsistency and hypocrisy of this position,” Dorey told his guests.
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