An estimated 2,000 people protested in Budapest on Tuesday, March 25 against a new law that aims to ban the annual LGBTQ+ Pride march and allows the use of facial recognition software to identify attendees.
Hungary’s parliament passed a law proposed by ruling party lawmakers on Tuesday, March 18 to ban the Pride march on the grounds that it “could be harmful to children”.
Powered by Trump, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who faces an unprecedented challenge from a new surging opposition party ahead of 2026 elections, has criticised the LGBTQ+ community and pledged to crack down on foreign funding of independent media and non-governmental organisations in Hungary in recent weeks as part of his campaign.
“The vile law is not merely about banning Pride, it effectively enables the suppression of any form of protest in the future,” the protest’s organiser, independent member of parliament, Akos Hadhazy wrote on Facebook.
“This is not about Pride, this is about freedom of assembly. They are trying to curtail the right to assembly, maybe end it completely,” said protestor Zsuzsa Szabo, 72.
On Tuesday, March 18 protesters blocked a bridge in central Budapest after the bill was passed in an expedited process. Budapest’s liberal mayor Gergely Karacsony criticised the law and members of the opposition Momentum party lit smoke flares in protest at the time of the vote in Parliament, which led to suspensions and fines.
Festival organisers say the annual Pride march poses no threat to children and that they are planning to hold the event despite the ban.
The United Nations expressed concern about the new law, saying the agency is “deeply concerned” about the move, which “results in arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on the rights of LGBTIQ+ individuals to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and privacy.”
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