Overview
- Under Mayor Gergely Karácsony’s decision to list Pride as a city festival the march proceeded despite a national police ban.
- Organizers say the event drew tens of thousands of participants in Budapest’s largest Pride to date.
- Police set up facial-recognition cameras and warned of fines up to €500 for marchers and prison terms for organizers.
- Roughly 70 EU parliamentarians, diplomats and Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib joined the parade in solidarity.
- The demonstration symbolized a direct challenge to Viktor Orbán’s restrictive “child protection” laws and broader attacks on LGBTQ+ visibility in Hungary.