Nearly 200.000 people marched through Budapest today, according to organizers, an unprecedented turnout for a Hungarian Pride march, despite a ban by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
"We estimate the number of attendees to be between 180.000 and 200.000. It is difficult to estimate the exact number because there have never been so many people at Pride in Budapest," Pride president Viktoria Radvanyi told AFP.
Budapest Mayor Đerđ Karačonj from the Green Party praised the record attendance.
"Thank you, Viktor Orban, for promoting a more tolerant society!" he wrote on Facebook.
Police, citing "child protection," banned the rally last Sunday, a step backward for LGBT+ rights in the European Union (EU).
However, organizers and the mayor's office decided to hold the parade, arguing that such an event does not require official approval.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, seeking to avoid condemnation for violent repression, ruled out any intervention by law enforcement agencies on Friday, but threatened members of the LGBT+ community with legal consequences.
But for Orban and his Fidesz party, "this great success of the Pride Parade is very shameful" and will have political consequences, analyst Szabolcs Péc told AFP.
"This year, Pride in Budapest is not just a celebration, it is a strong international expression of our stance," Pride President Viktoria Radvanyi said during the rally.
All eyes across Europe are on Hungary, a country of 9,6 million people, which has drawn the ire of the European Commission with a ban on the Pride March reminiscent of bans in Moscow in 2006 and Istanbul in 2015.
"The danger is here. The reactionary international is arriving before our eyes, in the United States, Hungary, Italy, Russia," said a representative of the Aides association during the Pride Parade in Paris, where thousands of participants gathered today.
After 33 countries expressed support for the rally in Budapest, the justice minister warned diplomats in Hungary that if they participate in the banned rally, they "will have to face the consequences."
At least 70 members of the European Parliament have announced their arrival to "tell Viktor Orban that they will not tolerate his dismantling of the European project," said Frenchman Rafael Gliksmann, who called on the EU to "stop" Orban.
Cameras were pre-installed in Budapest so that facial recognition could allow authorities to fine participants up to 500 euros, while organizing or calling for participation is punishable by a year in prison.
In addition to a law passed in mid-March banning such gatherings, Hungary has gone so far as to amend the Constitution to "protect children" from LGBTQ people.
"Instead of scoring points," the government "scored a huge own goal by trying to prevent today's event," said opposition member Peter Magar, who is leading in the polls ahead of the spring 2026 parliamentary elections.
Emboldened by US President Donald Trump's offensive against social diversity, Orban hoped to, in the words of political scientists, "polarize society," which he had previously done well.
Before Orban returned to power in 2010, Hungary was one of the most vocal defenders of LGBT+ rights in the region: homosexuality was decriminalized in the early 1960s, and same-sex civil marriages were recognized in 1996.
But as head of government, this advocate of "illiberalism" gradually changed that.
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