Huge crowds pack Budapest as banned Pride march swells into anti-Orban rally
BUDAPEST - Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Hungary's capital on June 28 as a banned LGBTQ+ rights rally swelled into a mass anti-government demonstration, in one of the biggest shows of opposition to Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Crowds filled a square near Budapest's city hall in sweltering heat before setting off across one of the main bridges over the Danube, waving rainbow flags, some draped in capes and some carrying signs mocking Mr Orban.
'This is about much more, not just about homosexuality... This is the last moment to stand up for our rights,' Ms Eszter Rein Bodi, one of the marchers, said.
'None of us are free until everyone is free,' one sign read.
Mr Orban's government has gradually curtailed the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in the past decade, and lawmakers passed a law in March that allows for the ban of Pride marches, citing the need to protect children.
Mr Orban's opponents see the move as part of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms ahead of a national election in 2026 when the veteran prime minister - whose party has dominated Hungary's political scene for 15 years - will face a strong opposition challenger.
Small groups of far-right counter-protesters attempted to disrupt the peaceful march, but police separated them and diverted the route of the march to avoid any clashes.
Mr Orban and his government, who promote a Christian-conservative agenda and have championed family values, have defended the restrictions saying that the need to protect children supersedes all other rights.
Mr Orban posted a photo with his grandchildren on the morning of the march, with the caption: 'This is what I am proud of.' Several of his supporters followed suit.
Marchers included students, families and people from the countryside who said they had never attended a rally before.
The Erzsebet bridge, built to carry six lanes of traffic, was engulfed with people.
Local media sites including 444.hu and Magyar Hang estimated the crowd at 100,000, though Reuters could not confirm that figure.
'The message is clear, they have no power over us,' Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony told the rally. He thanked police for securing the march.
What started as a Pride parade in Budapest on June 28, morphed into an anti-government protest involving tens of thousands of people.
PHOTO: AFP
March organisers said participants had arrived from 30 different countries, including 70 members of the European Parliament.
More than 30 embassies have expressed support for the march and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Hungarian authorities to let the parade go ahead.
'Legal consequences'
Budapest's mayor had tried to circumvent the law by organising Pride as a municipal event, which he said does not need a permit. Police however banned the event, arguing that it fell under the scope of the child protection law.
Mr Orban provided some clues on June 27 about what participants can expect when he warned of 'legal consequences' for organising and attending the march.
Earlier this week Justice Minister Bence Tuzson warned in a letter sent to some foreign embassies in Budapest that organising a prohibited event is punishable by one year in jail, while attending counts as a misdemeanour.
The law that allows for the ban of Pride lets police impose fines and use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend.
Police officers standing guard as people attend the Budapest Pride parade in Hungary's capital on June 28.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mr Orban's attacks on Pride initially increased his support, political analyst Gabor Torok wrote on Facebook on June 28. But opinion shifted after the police ban and the legal debates surrounding the march, he said.
Mr Orban's dominance and ability to set the political agenda had faced increasing challenges from centre-right opposition leader Peter Magyar's Tisza party, which had a 15-point lead over Mr Orban's Fidesz in a poll this month.
Tisza, which has been avoiding taking a strong position on gay rights issues, did not specify in response to Reuters questions whether it believed the Pride march was lawful, but said those attending deserved the state's protection. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
7 hours ago
- Straits Times
Trump, EU's von der Leyen discuss plight of children in war
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump sits with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after the announcement of a trade deal between the U.S. and EU, in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain, July 27, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday they spoke about missing children due to conflict as Trump hosted European and NATO leaders in Washington to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine. Trump's wife, Melania Trump, raised the plight of children in Ukraine and Russia in a personal letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, two White House officials said on Friday when Trump met Putin at a summit in Alaska. Trump hand-delivered that letter to Putin. Trump and the European leader "have been discussing the massive Worldwide problem of missing children," the U.S. president said on social media late on Monday, without mentioning any particular country in his post. "This is, likewise, a big subject with my wife, Melania." Ukraine has called the abductions of tens of thousands of its children taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians a war crime that meets the U.N. treaty definition of genocide. Moscow has previously said it has been protecting vulnerable children from a war zone. The United Nations Human Rights Office has said Russia has inflicted suffering on millions of Ukrainian children and violated their rights since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. "The human cost of this war must end. And that means every single Ukrainian child abducted by Russia must be returned to their families," von der Leyen said on X, in reference to her discussion with Trump. Images of suffering children during Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza have caused alarm around the world, including the visuals of starving kids in the Palestinian enclave. The plight of children left devastated by years of violence in Syria had also sparked outrage. REUTERS
Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Straits Times
Macron calls for sanctions against Russia if diplomacy fails
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Mr Emmanuel Macron said that he hoped Russia and Ukraine would resume contact 'in the coming days'. WASHINGTON - French President Emmanuel Macron called on Aug 18 for stepping up sanctions against Russia if its leader Vladimir Putin does not move forward on peace with Ukraine. 'President Trump believes we can get an agreement and believes that President Putin also wants a peace accord,' Mr Macron told reporters after talks at the White House. 'But if at the end this process is met by refusal, we are also ready to say that we need to increase sanctions.' He pointed to recent secondary sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on India, which has emerged as a major buyer of Russian energy as Western nations cut back due to sanctions following Mr Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The secondary sanctions on India have 'had a lot of effects,' Mr Macron said. Mr Trump invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House three days after the US president welcomed Mr Putin for talks in Alaska . Over the weekend, Mr Trump publicly again pressured Ukraine to concede territory, siding with Mr Putin and not Mr Zelensky, who has insisted on defending all territory which Russia has taken by force. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. World Trump says arrangements being made for Putin, Zelensky to meet over Russia-Ukraine peace deal Singapore 'I vaped when I woke up until I slept': More youth vaping to cope with stress, say social workers Singapore 'I'd have phone in one hand, vape in the other': Youth addicted to vapes gets help to quit habit Singapore 'We don't want youth to enter darker places': Counsellors say support key to kicking vaping habit World Hamas accepts proposed deal for ceasefire with Israel and hostage release, Egyptian source says Singapore Jobs, infrastructure and homes at the core of Singapore's resilience: Economists Asked by reporters if Mr Trump had said that concessions were necessary before any US security guarantees to Ukraine, Mr Macron said, 'No, that wasn't discussed at all. We're well away from that.' He said that Mr Trump and the European leaders also agreed that there can be no restrictions on the size of Ukraine's military in a future deal with Russia. All the leaders meeting in Washington support a 'robust Ukrainian army that can resist any attempted attack.' Mr Macron said that he hoped Russia and Ukraine would resume contact 'in the coming days' with a potential three-way summit involving Mr Trump, Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky 'in two to three weeks.' However, Finnish president Alexander Stubb who was also at the White House with Mr Trump, Mr Macron and other European leaders, said Mr Putin was not trustworthy. 'Putin is rarely to be trusted. So now it remains to be seen whether he has the courage to come to this type of meeting. Does he have the courage to come to a trilateral meeting, or is he once again playing for time?' he said. AFP
Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Straits Times
While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Aug 19, 2025
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump took questions from the media in the Oval Office before meeting in private. Trump tells Zelensky US would help with Ukraine's security in a peace deal US President Donald Trump said on Aug 18 that the United States would help Europe in providing security for Ukraine as part of any deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine, as he and President Volodymyr Zelensky began a hastily arranged White House meeting to discuss a path to peace. But he also suggested to reporters that he no longer believed reaching a ceasefire was a necessary prerequisite for striking a peace agreement, backing a position staked out by Russian President Vladimir Putin and opposed by Mr Zelensky and most European leaders. The two leaders took questions from the media in the Oval Office before meeting in private, six months after their last appearance there descended into disaster when Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance upbraided Mr Zelensky in an extraordinary a public dressing-down. READ MORE HERE Hamas accepts new Gaza truce plan: Hamas official AFP Hamas has accepted a new ceasefire proposal for Gaza without requesting amendments, a source from the group told AFP on Aug 18, after a fresh diplomatic push to end more than 22 months of war. Mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, have struggled to secure a lasting truce in the conflict, which has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. But after receiving a new proposal from meditators, Hamas said it was ready for talks. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. World Trump says arrangements being made for Putin, Zelensky to meet over Russia-Ukraine peace deal Singapore 'I vaped when I woke up until I slept': More youth vaping to cope with stress, say social workers Singapore 'I'd have phone in one hand, vape in the other': Youth addicted to vapes gets help to quit habit Singapore 'We don't want youth to enter darker places': Counsellors say support key to kicking vaping habit World Hamas accepts proposed deal for ceasefire with Israel and hostage release, Egyptian source says Singapore Jobs, infrastructure and homes at the core of Singapore's resilience: Economists READ MORE HERE Novo Nordisk offers Ozempic at $640 per month to eligible US cash-paying customers REUTERS Novo Nordisk said on Aug 18 it was offering its diabetes drug Ozempic for US$499 (S$640.83) per month to eligible cash-paying patients with type 2 diabetes in the US via its own pharmacy, a tie-up with telehealth service GoodRx and other platforms. US-listed shares of the Danish drugmaker were up 5.3 per cent, while shares of GoodRx rose 34.2 per cent. Novo and rival Eli Lilly have expanded into direct-to-consumer sales for the highly effective and sought-after medicines, in part due to competition from online telehealth companies and pharmacies that sell cheaper compounded versions. READ MORE HERE Hong Kong arrests 2 over suspected water scam Hong Kong police said on Aug 18 they have arrested two people over a suspected scam involving a water supplier that may have cheated the government in a contract worth nearly US$7 million (S$8.99 million). A company named Xin Ding Xin won a deal in June to provide 1.88 million bottles of water which would go into dispensers in some government offices – the first time such a contract went to a Chinese brand, according to local media. But police said the firm was found to have relied on false documents during the tender process, claiming to source its water from another mainland Chinese supplier when in fact they had no business ties. READ MORE HERE US FTC sues ticket reseller for evading Taylor Swift's Eras tour ticket limits AFP The US Federal Trade Commission sued ticket reseller Key Investment Group for evading purchasing limits to buy up thousands of tickets to live events including Taylor Swift's Eras tour and resell them at a markup, according to a complaint filed in Maryland federal court on Aug 18. The Baltimore, Maryland-based company, which operates ticket resale sites including used thousands of Ticketmaster accounts, including fake or purchased accounts, the FTC said. Ticketmaster faced intense criticism after its botched 2022 sale of tickets to Swift's much-hyped New Eras Tour, when billions of requests from Swift fans, bots and ticket resellers overwhelmed its website and the company canceled a planned ticket sale to the general public.
