Hungary Pride to go ahead, as PM Orban threatens ‘legal consequences’

A Budapest Pride march should go ahead on Saturday, defying the legal threats of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban against LGBTQ rights activists.

The organizers of March hope for a record attendance of this year, despite the growing pressure of nationalist politicians and conservative police to stop any exposure of pro-LGBTQ equipment.

The police have prohibited, in accordance with a new “child protection” law which restricts the rallies considered to promote homosexuality.

A day before pride, Mr. Orban minimized the possibility of violent clashes between the police and the participants – but warned those who will face the possible legal impact.

“Of course, the police could break such events, because they have the power to do so, but Hungary is a civilized country, a civic society. We do not injure each other,” Orban told State Radio on Friday.

“There will be legal consequences, but it cannot reach the level of physical violence.”

Participants risk a fine of up to € 500 (£ 427; $ 586), the police authorized to use facial recognition technology to identify them.

The organizers could incur a one -year prison sentence.

The EU equality commissioner Hadja Lahbib, a former Belgian foreign minister, is in Budapest and should join the march, as well as dozens of deputies.

Friday, Ms. Lahbib published a photo showing her position with the liberal mayor of Budapest Gergely Karacsony in front of a rainbow flag symbolizing the rights of homosexuals.

The march of pride “will be a powerful symbol of the force of civil society,” she wrote on X.

Before pride, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, asked the Orban government not to block the march.

Mr. Orban was not imperturbable, asking him “to refrain from interfering in the affairs of the law enforcement” of the EU member countries.