“I know what it feels like to be treated as a couple”: the massive manifestation of pride to challenge the harsh measures against the diversity of the Orbán government in Hungary

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

Attendees could be forced to pay a fine of up to US $ 586, and the police are empowered to use facial recognition technology to identify them.

The organizers could face up to one year in prison.

Budapest is announced as a party city. This Saturday, the party extended to the streets and, under the scorching heat of the summer, occupied the Isabel bridge, the river banks and the central areas on both banks of the Danube.

The tens of thousands of attendees, mostly young people, danced and sang during their journey from pest to Buddha.

A distance that normally only takes 20 minutes on foot was extended three hours.

The orbán prohibition, according to the BBC numerous participants of the Pride March, encouraged them to attend an event that normally remains remote. Last year, only 35,000 people participated.

Many banners made fun of Hungarian prime minister. It was like a peaceful revenge of some of those who have declared war during their last 15 years in power.

“In my story I learned enough to recognize a dictatorship. You don't need to illustrate it, Vik!”, He said a handmade banner. “I'm fed up with fascism,” said another.

T -shirts with the image of orbán, with bright eye shadows and lipsticks, were everywhere.

Luca, 34, who was preparing to attend with his mother Enikö, said they both want a country with “diversity”, something she considers that it does not currently exist.

“We have a law that prohibits different people from gathering. That's why we are here. Because it is violating our rights. That's why we came.”

He told the BBC to worry about the future of his 4 -year -old daughter, who lives “in a country where he can't love whoever wants.”

Barnabás, 22, said he attended to “express my solidarity with the LGBTIQ+… because I know what he feels not to be seen and treated as a couple, something that obviously not all here we are.”

The young man, who is not part of the community, said he comes from the countryside, where people “are more prone to being xenophobic and homophobic.”

The Equality Commissioner of the European Union, Hadja Lahbib, who was also Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, was in Budapest to participate in the march.

On Friday, Lahbib published a photo of his with the liberal mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karacsary, in front of an rainbow flag that symbolizes the rights of the LGBTIQ+community.

The progress march “will be a powerful symbol of civil society force,” he wrote in X.

And so it was. Although the LGBTIQ+ community constituted the core of the march, this year's pride became a celebration of human rights and solidarity.

“We do not seem exactly as if they had prohibited us!” Radiant said the mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karacsary, to the crowd in a speech in front of the Technical University of Budapest.

The march could be remembered as the peak of his political career. A City Council lacking funds and in constant conflict with the central government, dared to organize an event that the authorities tried to prohibit. And he won, at least for now.

“In fact, it seems that we are making peacefully and freely a great show before a conceited power and full of hate. The message is clear: they have no power over us!” Karacsary continued.

The mayor, a member of the Hungarian opposition, insisted that no march assistant will suffer reprisals, since being a municipal event did not require the authorization of the police.

The Finnish Eurodiputa Li Andersson said it was important for her and her European colleagues to be there to show solidarity with the LGBTIQ+ community and Hungarian civil society.

“It is important to emphasize that the reason we are here is not only pride, but the fundamental rights of all of us.”

He added that he believes that Orbán wields arguments about family values ​​as a pretext to prohibit march.

“It is a march that deals fundamentally about equality and about egalitarian rights for all, about the right to love and live with whom one chooses.”

“I think that is a fundamental value that any free and democratic society should respect,” he added.

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

However, Orbán remained impassive and asked him to refrain from interfering with the police affairs of the member countries of the European Union.

The prohibition was based on a new law, approved by the large majority of the Fidesz Party of Orbán in Parliament, which subject freedom of meeting to a 2021 child protection law that equated homosexuality with pedophilia and, therefore, prohibited the representation or promotion of homosexuality in places where children could see it.

Police justified the prohibition of the march arguing that children could witness it. In response, the mayor cited a law of 2001 that establishes that the events organized by the municipalities are not covered by the right of meeting.

Finally, the police present in the march maintained a discreet presence, sadly observing a party from which they were excluded.

In another part of the city, Orbán attended the graduation ceremony of 162 new police and customs agents, and the new officials of the National Directorate of the National Foreigners Police.

“The order does not arise by itself, it must be created, because without it the civilized life will be lost,” Orbán told students and their families. Previously, he and other prominent Fidesz officials published photos with their children and grandchildren, in an attempt to claim pride.

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