Hungarians keep up protests against Orban's move to ban Pride

Record ID: 1987659

  • Title: Hungarians keep up protests against Orban's move to ban Pride
  • Date: 1st April 2025
  • Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (APRIL 1, 2025) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING ONTO ELIZABETH BRIDGE WITH BANNER READING (Hungarian): "Assembly is a basic right” /, HOLDING ZEBRA BALLOONS AND CHANTING (Hungarian): Assembly is a basic right” VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HOLDING COLOURFUL SMOKE BOMBS AND CHANTING (Hungarian): "We will not tolerate this” VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING W
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Hungarian government LGBTQ+ Viktor Orban protest in Hungary
  • Location: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
  • City: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Europe,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001341101042025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Thousands of Hungarians protested in Budapest on Tuesday (April 1) against a law that aims to ban the annual Pride march by LGBTQ+ groups, and which is seen by critics as part of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms ahead of a 2026 parliamentary election.
    Some demonstrators attending the protest, the third rally over Orban's reforms, voiced concerns about the health of Hungary's democracy more than two decades after it joined the European Union.
    Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who faces a strong challenge from a surging opposition party ahead of the vote, has criticized the LGBTQ+ community and pledged to curb foreign funding of independent media and non-governmental organizations in Hungary.
    Parliament, dominated by Orban's Fidesz party, passed a law last month to ban the Pride march on the grounds that it could be harmful to children. Orban, who has been in power since 2010, promotes a Christian-conservative agenda.
    The law says police can use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend the event, and impose fines on participants, which critics say could become a tool to target Orban's political opponents.
    Orban has said the fact that rallies such as the one on Tuesday could take place meant there was no threat to democracy, calling opposition protests against the new law "provocation."
    (Production: Krisztina Fenyo, Malgorzata Wojtunik)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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