A “shame”. It is in these terms that Viktor Orban qualified the pride march organized this weekend in Budapest, despite his ban. The Hungarian Prime Minister attacked an event which nevertheless brought together tens of thousands of people in the streets of the capital.
“I am one of those who do not consider what happened as a source of pride,” said the manager in an interview extract broadcast on Facebook.
About 200,000 people on the streets
According to the organizers, some 200,000 people participated in this exceptional march, led in particular by the ecological mayor of the Hungarian capital.
This is an unprecedented level of participation since the launch of the pride in the 1990s. The procession was held in a festive, but also demanding atmosphere, faced with an unprecedented hardening of LGBTQIA + rights in Hungary. In power since 2010, Viktor Orban has continued to restrict the rights of LGBTQIA +people, in the name of “child protection”.
“Impose WOKE culture”
The pride has immediately aroused a virulent government reaction from the government, which accused the opposition of having acted “on the orders of Brussels” to “impose WOKE culture” and “to have mocked the sovereignty of Hungary”. This year, a new law, introduced last March, prohibits any event exposing minors to homosexuality or transidentity.
The text is now based on a constitutional modification, having the rights of the child take place on any other right, including that of demonstrating.
Our file on the pride march
Facial recognition to identify participants
Cameras have been installed before walking, and facial recognition could be used to identify the participants. Fines up to 500 euros are planned, and the organizers risk up to a year in prison.
Budapest police opened an investigation into the events, while the town hall welcomed its supervision of the demonstration. Orban, on the other hand, has dismissed direct police intervention, but promised subsequent judicial consequences for participants and organizers. A deterrent strategy denounced by NGOs as an attempt to criminalize the expression identity.
