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Japan Today
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
Around 100,000 march in Budapest Pride in defiance of Hungary's ban
By JUSTIN SPIKE Around 100,000 people defied a government ban and police orders on Saturday to march in what organizers called the largest LGBTQ+ Pride event in Hungary's history in an open rebuke of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government. Marchers gambled with potential police intervention and heavy fines to participate in the 30th annual Budapest Pride, which was outlawed by a law passed in March by Orbán's right-wing populist governing party. The march began at Budapest City hall and wound through the city center before crossing the capital's Erzsébet Bridge over the Danube River. Police diverted the crowd from its planned route to keep it separated from a small group of far-right counterprotesters, while members of Hungary's LGBTQ+ community and large numbers of supporters danced to music and waved rainbow and anti-government flags. The massive size of the march, which the government for months had insisted would no longer be permitted in Hungary, was seen as a major blow to Orbán's prestige, as the European Union's longest-serving leader's popularity slumps in the polls where a new opposition force has taken the lead. Some participants said that the march wasn't only about defending the fundamental rights of sexual minorities, but also addressed what they see as an accelerating crackdown on democratic processes under Orbán's rule. Orbán and his party have insisted that Pride, a celebration of LGBTQ+ visibility and struggle for equal rights, was a violation of children's rights to moral and spiritual development — rights that a recent constitutional amendment declared took precedence over other fundamental rights, including that to peacefully assemble. The law fast-tracked through parliament in March made it an offense to hold or attend events that 'depict or promote' homosexuality to minors under age 18. Orbán earlier made clear that Budapest Pride was the explicit target of the law. Authorities installed additional cameras throughout the city center before the march, and were expected to use facial recognition tools to identify individuals who attend the banned event. According to the new law, being caught attending Pride could result in fines of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints ($586). The ban was the latest crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights by Orbán's government, which has already effectively banned both same-sex adoption and same-sex marriage and disallowed transgender individuals from changing their sex in official documents. Police rejected several requests by organizers in recent weeks to register the Pride march, citing the recent law. But Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony joined with organizers and declared it would be held as a separate municipal event — something he said that doesn't require police approval. But Hungary's government has remained firm, insisting that holding the Pride march, even if it's sponsored by the city, would be unlawful. Hungary's justice minister this week warned Karácsony that organizing Pride or encouraging people to attend would be punishable by up to a year in prison. More than 70 members of the European Parliament, as well as other officials from countries around Europe, participated in Saturday's march. Hadja Lahbib, the EU's commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, earlier said that 'all eyes are on Budapest' as Pride marchers defy the government's ban. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Kyiv rescuers find more bodies as death toll from latest Russian aerial attack climbs to 28
In this aerial photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, searchers sift through the wreckage on the site of Russia's Tuesday deadly missile attack that ruined a multistory residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) By JUSTIN SPIKE and ILLIA NOVIKOV Emergency workers pulled more bodies Wednesday from the rubble of a nine-story Kyiv apartment building demolished by a Russian missile, raising the death toll from the latest attack on the Ukrainian capital to 28. The building in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district took a direct hit and collapsed during the deadliest Russian attack on Kyiv this year. Authorities said that 23 of those killed were inside the building. The remaining five died elsewhere in the city. Workers used cranes, excavators and their hands to clear more debris from the site, while sniffer dogs searched for buried victims. The blast blew out windows and doors in neighboring buildings in a wide radius of damage. The attack overnight on Monday into Tuesday was part of a sweeping barrage as Russia once again sought to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. Russia fired more than 440 drones and 32 missiles in what Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said was one of the biggest bombardments of the war, now in its fourth year. Russia has launched a summer offensive on parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line and has intensified long-range attacks that have struck urban residential areas. At the same time, U.S.-led peace efforts have failed to grain traction. Also, Middle East tensions and U.S. trade tariffs have drawn world attention away from Ukraine's pleas for more diplomatic and economic pressure to be placed on Russia. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said the attack clashed with the attempts by the administration of President Donald Trump to reach a settlement that will stop the fighting. 'This senseless attack runs counter to President Trump's call to stop the killing and end the war,' the embassy posted on social platform X. Kyiv authorities declared Wednesday an official day of mourning. Mourners laid flowers on swings and slides at a playground across the street from the collapsed building. On Tuesday, a man had waited hours there for his 31-year-old son's body to be pulled from the rubble. Psychologists from Ukraine's emergency services provided counseling to survivors of the attack and to family members of those who died. 'Some people are simply in a stupor, they simply can't move,' Karyna Dovhal, one of the psychologists, told AP. 'People are waiting for their sons, brothers, uncles ... Everyone is waiting.' Valentin Hrynkov, a 64-year-old handyman in a local school who lived on the seventh floor of a connected building that did not collapse, said he and his wife woke up to the sound of explosions followed by a pause, and then another blast that rattled their own building. He said his wife had shrapnel injuries in her back and his legs and feet were cut by broken glass. The damage trapped them in their apartment for around 30 minutes before rescue workers could free them, he said. He felt an overwhelming sense of 'helplessness and primal fear' during the attack, he told The Associated Press. 'I was especially scared to sleep last night,' Hrynkov said. 'A car drives by and I cover my head. It's scary.' By dawn on Tuesday, residents of buildings in the densely populated neighborhood could be seen huddled in ground-floor entryways to seek shelter from the ongoing drone assault. Drones were striking every few minutes within hundreds of meters of the building hit by the missile. The continuing attack forced firefighters and rescue teams to delay the rescue operation. Relatives and friends of the destroyed building's residents later gathered outside in shock, many crying and calling out names, hoping survivors might still be found beneath the rubble. Vasilisa Stepanenko and Oleksandr Babenko contributed from Kyiv, Ukraine. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
