Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has warned that anyone who organizes or plans to participate in the banned Budapest Pride march will face consequences, Reuters reports.
In March, the Hungarian parliament, led by Orbán’s Fidesz party, passed a law banning LGBTQ marches on child protection grounds. The law also allows police to use facial recognition cameras to identify people at such events.
Critics see the Pride ban as part of a campaign to curtail democratic freedoms ahead of parliamentary elections next year. Orbán faces strong opposition, and recent polls show Orbán’s opponents leading.
Orbán told state radio: “We are adults, and I recommend that everyone should decide what they want, keep to the rules … and if they don’t, then they should face the clear legal consequences.” He said the police could disperse the protesters, but Hungary is a civilized country and the main task of the police is to convince people to obey the law. Orbán added that
“we are in this world to help each other, not to make life harder; that is the foundation of Christianity.”
On the 23rd of June, Britain, France, Germany and 30 other countries expressed support for Hungary’s LGBTQ community and the planned Pride march. It is planned to take place despite the ban, and Budapest’s liberal mayor, Gergely Karacsony, has said it will be a celebration of the city’s freedom. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has urged Hungarian authorities to allow the march. Orbán compared it to receiving instructions from Moscow during the communist regime.
Orbán’s government espouses a strict Christian conservative stance and has passed several laws over the past decade that affect the daily lives of LGBTQ people.
Read also: Budapest mayor announces city will organize pride, bypassing Orbán’s law