Budapest mayor questioned over organising banned pride march

Budapest’s mayor has been questioned by police as a suspect in helping to organise a banned LGBTQ march in the city.

The event took place on June 28 despite warnings of potential legal repercussions by Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose government passed a law earlier this year banning the event.

Organisers say that despite threats of fines, a record 200,000 people took part in the rally, which swiftly descended into an anti-government protest.

Wearing a rainbow T-shirt featuring the capitals coat of arms, Mayor Gergely Karacsony, who appeared at Hungary’s National Bureau of Investigation on Friday, told supporters: “Neither freedom nor love can be banned in Budapest”.

If charged and convicted, Karacsony could face up to a year in prison for organising and encouraging participation in a banned march.

“They described the accusation. I said that I considered this to be unfounded and that I will lodge a complaint against it,” Karacsony told a crowd of some 200 supporters and journalists who had gathered outside the building where he was questioned for more than an hour.

“Neither freedom nor love can be banned in Budapest,” said the mayor, who added: “If it cannot be banned, it cannot be punished.”

Accompanied by his lawyer, Karacsony did not answer any questions posed by investigators but instead presented them with a statement of his own.

The annual pride march had been in doubt since the government passed a law in March restricting gatherings if they break child protection laws on the public promotion on homosexuality.

It was the latest measure from Orban’s government targeting Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community.

In 2020, Hungary abolished its legal recognition of transgender people, and in 2021, the government passed a law banning the depiction of homosexuality to under-18s.

Despite the ban, the mayor stood in defiance, vowing: “Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march as a local event on 28 June,” and argued that police could not legally ban a municipal event.

Last month, police announced they would not take action against attendees who could have faced fines of up to €500 (£427; $586) for attending the Pride parade.

However, Hungary’s National Bureau of Investigation, which is tasked with investigating serious and complex crimes, said it had launched a probe against an “unknown perpetrator” accused of organising the rally.