Hungarian police on Thursday banned the country’s main Pride march from taking place in Budapest on Saturday next week, but the capital’s mayor defied them, vowing it would still go ahead.
Since Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban returned to power in 2010, Hungary has passed a series of laws that have been criticized at home and across the EU for curtailing the rights of the country’s sexual and gender minorities in the name of “child protection.”
“The police, acting within their authority over public assemblies, prohibit the holding of the assembly at the aforementioned location and time,” the Budapest police said on their Web site.
Police said the ban was necessary under recent legislation that bans the promotion of same-sex relationships to people aged 18 and younger, adding that any appeal against the decision must be lodged with the Hungarian Supreme Court within three days.
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, a liberal, vowed to hold the gathering despite the ban.
He said the police decision had “no value” because the march did not require official authorization anyway, as it was an event organized by the city council.
“Budapest city hall will organize the Budapest Pride march on June 28 as a city event. Period,” he wrote on Facebook.
On Monday, he announced that the Budapest city hall would organize the march in an attempt to sidestep the recently adopted law.
One senior Hungarian government figure on Wednesday said the mayor was “trying to cheat.”
“All events of this type have to be announced, and the police have the right to ban them,” said Gergely Gulyas, head of Orban’s office. “No serious legal expert would try to dispute that.”
In mid-March, the Hungarian parliament passed a bill aimed at banning any gathering that contravenes an anti-LGBTQ law adopted in 2021.
The 2021 law prohibits the “display or promotion of homosexuality” to people aged 18 and younger.
In its decision published on Thursday, police said that the march “by its very nature cannot be held without the representation” of people belonging to the LGBTQ community and that people aged 18 and younger could be present along the route.
“If it cannot be stated with absolute certainty that the display is not taking place in the presence of persons under 18 years of age, the assembly would be in breach of the ban,” the police said.
Hungarian lawmakers in April overwhelmingly backed constitutional changes that strengthened the legal foundations for banning the Pride march.
The government said the annual event could be held at an enclosed location, such as a stadium, out of sight of children.
The conflict over the Pride march has already sparked protests in Hungary.
In March, thousands of people blocked bridges in the capital, demanding that the ban be repealed.
Several members of the European Parliament have said they would attend the parade.
European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib is also due to attend the march, as are ministers from several EU countries, the organizers said.
Attendees risk a fine of up to 500 euros (US$576), which the Hungarian authorities say would be channeled into “child protection” projects.
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