Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has called the Pride march “repulsive and shameful” and accused the European Union (EU) of helping to organize it, Reuters reports.
The march in support of the LGBT community turned into one of the largest protests against Orbán’s government in recent years, with an estimated 100,000 participants defying a ban on the march and threats of punishment to join the protest.
Hungarian media outlet Index reported that speaking to a closed online group of his supporters, the Fight Club, Orbán said that Brussels had ordered opposition politicians to call on their voters to attend the event en masse.
“Since yesterday, we are even more certain that these people [opposition politicians] must not be allowed near the helm of government. And we will not allow them,” Orbán said. The Hungarian prime minister offered no evidence for his claims, however. The Pride march was organized by the administration of Budapest’s liberal mayor, Gergely Karacsony, and
Orbán has accused Karacsony for years of being a puppet of Brussels.
Budapest’s city council did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment, while the European Commission declined to comment on Orbán’s remarks.
In March, Hungary’s parliament, led by Orbán’s Fidesz party, passed a law banning LGBTQ marches on child protection grounds. Orbán’s opponents see the ban as part of a broader crackdown on democratic freedoms ahead of elections next year, in which the ruling party is expected to face stiff competition.
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