Budapest mayor says probe of banned Pride march sees him as a 'suspect'

NBC News

3 days ago

BUDAPEST — The mayor of Budapest said on Thursday he had become a 'suspect' in a police investigation targeting the organizers of an LGBTQ rights rally that turned into an anti-government protest last month.
Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Hungary's capital city on June 28 as a banned Pride march swelled into a mass anti-government demonstration in one of the biggest shows of opposition to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
'I have become a suspect, and if in this country this is the price we have to pay for standing up for our own and others' freedom, then I am even proud of it,' Mayor Gergely Karacsony said in a post on his Facebook page.
Police did not reply to emailed Reuters questions seeking comment. The mayor's office told Reuters that Karacsony would be questioned by police as a suspect next week.
Orban's conservative nationalist government has gradually curtailed the rights of the LGBTQ community in the past decade, and lawmakers passed a law in March that allowed for the banning of Pride marches, citing the need to protect children.
The mayor tried to circumvent the law by organizing Pride as a municipal event, which he said did not need a permit. Police, however, banned the event, arguing that it fell under the scope of the child protection law.
Orban had warned of 'legal consequences' for organizing and attending the march. Police said earlier that they would not investigate those who attended the event.
But there is an investigation under way against an unknown perpetrator, news site 444.hu said on Thursday.
Orban's critics have regarded the move to ban Pride as part of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms ahead of an election next year when the Hungarian leader, whose Fidesz party has swept elections in the past 15 years, will face a strong opposition challenger.