Thousands protest assembly act amendment, ban of Pride in Budapest

The legislative majority of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party and its junior ally, the Christian Democrats, passed a bill last week, amending the law on assembly with the explicit aim of banning the Pride march of the LMBTQ+ community.

MPs of the opposition Momentum party and independent MP Ákos Hadházy protested against the bill by lighting smoke flares and scattering manipulated photos depicting Orbán and Russian President Vladimir Putin kissing.

The protest prompted Speaker László Kövér to impose a record fine of HUF 82 million on the six protesting MEPs. The Speaker also suspended Dávid Bedő, Lajos Lőcsei and Ákos Hadházy for 12 days and Ferenc Gelencsér, Éva Sebők and Endre Tóth for 6 days.

A demonstration was called to Erzsébet (Elizabeth) Bridge for today by Momentum and Ákos Hadházy, but the police refused to authorise it, citing disturbance to traffic. (Another march by the Two-Tailed Dog Party (MKKP) was also banned by the police last week, citing a constitutional amendment, which has not yet come into force.)

But a crowd of thousands gathered nearby, listening to speeches and chanting anti-government slogans: "Filthy Fidesz", "Orbán get out", "Assembly is a fundamental right".

Ákos Hadházy said that the police could not have done a better job of demonstrating what the Pride Act is all about by banning the protest. He added that banning the law was "rubbish", but it's all about banning any future demonstration that the authorities don't like and making it easier to punish demonstrators.

Krisztina Baranyi, mayor of Ferencváros (9th district), said that Orbán wanted to cross a border, where the other side was already in Russia.

Daniel Freund MEP said that

while Orbán is stealing our freedoms, he is also stealing our money,

and called on Orbán to stop stealing.

Hadházy said they have achieved their goal, which was to have the road to Erzsébet Bridge closed for at least two hours. He also announced a new demonstration for next Tuesday.

The protesters eventually made their way to the bridge that was already closed to traffic due to the rally. The police let the demonstrators onto the bridge, but blocked the other side, preventing anyone from crossing to Buda.

Some of the demonstrators went down to the Szabadság (Freedom) Bridge, but were met with the same scenario. The police did not let anyone cross.

After a while the demonstrators turned their backs on the police and the police van parked in the middle of the bridge and walked towards Pest. Some went on to the Petőfi bridge, the next one downriver. Once again, a wall of police officers blocked the Buda side, drawing chants "Let us through! Let us through!". At 9.15 pm all three bridges were still closed, with the police not letting protest cross to Buda. At a point, three bridges were closed to traffic simultaneously. About 500 protesters made it to Margaret Bridge about a quarter past 10, but the police blocked their way at the entrance of Margaret Island. Traffic was restored at 8:45 on Erzsébet Bridge and at 10pm on Szabadság Bridge.

The water police had to resuscitate former Szeged municipal councillor Bálint Szabó after around 9:15 he tried to swim across the cc. 9 degree Celsius (48 Fahrenheit) Danube during the protest when the police blocked Petőfi Bridge. The patrol boat of the Danube Water Police, which was on the scene, immediately threw him a life-belt, but he deliberately swam past it several times. A few minutes later, the police managed to lift him into the boat. As the man showed no signs of life, they immediately started CPR. He was taken ashore and handed over to the ambulance service in a stable condition.

From Margaret Bridge, some demonstrators made their way to the Parliament building, arriving just before 11pm. They want a free press, a change of government, democracy, the rule of law, and they are lighting up the police wall with their phones.

What are they protesting?

The law says that if they ban Pride (or any other demonstration for that matter) and it goes ahead anyway, they can fine not just the organisers but everyone who shows up. They would use facial recognition software to identify attenders and fine them for up to HUF 200,000.

The legislation received condemnation not just locally but internationally. The European Commission has promised a strong response to the new law. 

This law is a full-frontal attack on the LGBTI community and a blatant violation of Hungary’s obligations to prohibit discrimination and guarantee freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,

said Dávid Vig, Director of Amnesty International Hungary.

Budapest Pride organisers said the aim of the law was to “scapegoat” the LGBTQ+ community in order to silence voices critical of Orbán’s government.

This is not child protection, this is fascism,

they wrote.

Eventually, you can get to a situation where virtually no one can protest except those who are not critical of the government’s position.

Szabolcs Hegyi of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) told Agence France-Presse (AFP).