Hungary: Budapest is preparing for a march of pride against Orban

“Freedom and love cannot be prohibited!”: The message is large in a capital in full effervescence, where journalists and foreign elected officials have moved in number. By their side, more than 35,000 people are expected at the gathering point at 2:00 p.m. near the town hall of Budapest, an hour before the start of the procession.

The nationalist leader Viktor Orban wants to avoid the images of violent repression: Friday, he dismissed any intervention of the police, while threatening the gays, lesbians and transgender with a posteriori legal consequences. Because throughout Europe, the eyes will be on this country of 9.6 million inhabitants who attracted the wrath of the European Commission with this banning recalling those of Moscow in 2006 and Istanbul in 2015.

“This year, the Budapest Pride is not only a party, it is a strong international position,” said the president of the pride, Viktoria Radvanyi. For Akos Horvath, an 18 -year -old bisexual student who made two hours and buys a fan and painting to grim their face, “it is no longer just a question of representing homosexuals, but of defending the rights of the Hungarian people”.

After the support displayed by 33 countries at the rally, the Minister of Justice warned the diplomats stationed in Budapest if they participated in this prohibited event, they should assume the consequences.

Cameras have been installed along the route and facial recognition could allow the authorities to distribute fines of up to 500 euros, while organizing or calling to participate is liable to one year in prison.

This procedure is made to “intimidate people”, according to political analyst Daniel Mikecz, while, on a legal level, the prohibition violates the European treaties signed by Hungary during its membership in the EU in 2004. According to the government, minors should not be exposed to homosexuality and transidentity, and even less to “debauchery” scenes.

In addition to the law adopted in mid-March aimed at banning such rallies, he went so far as to modify the Constitution to ensure his rear. He affirms the best interests of the child to justify his questioning of the freedom to demonstrate.

Defining the ban, the organizers and the ecological mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karacsony, decided to maintain the pride, believing that such a municipal event does not require an official authorization. Far-right counter-demonstrators have obtained authorization to parade in the same place, and have placed a cross in front of the departure location.

Encouraged by Donald Trump’s offensive against diversity promotion programs, “Viktor Orban uses next year’s legislative elections a proven recipe by generating a conflict,” said Mikecz. “Polarizing society on migration issues has worked well” in the past, he recalls.

“It is disgusting, it has become a fashion to show off,” says under cover of anonymity Katalin, a resident who supports the ban. Before its return to power in 2010, Hungary was one of the most progressive countries in the region: homosexuality had been decriminalized there in the early 1960s and the civil union between the same sex spouses recognized in 1996. But the head of government, cantor of “illiberalism”, gradually changed the situation.