Several thousand protesters gathered outside the Hungarian parliament after a law was voted to ban gay pride events in the country, the Associated Press reported, BTA reports.
The protesters chanted slogans against the government and blocked traffic on one of the bridges over the Danube River, despite police instructions to leave the area.
Yesterday, the Hungarian parliament passed a new law that bans gay pride parades and allows authorities to use facial recognition software on event participants, with fines imposed on those who violate the law. According to the government, the law is aimed at protecting the well-being of children. The money from the fines will be used for "child protection".
One of the participants in the demonstration, Evgeny Belyakov, a Russian citizen who immigrated to Hungary after the repression in Russia, said the law affects people's fundamental right to peaceful assembly. "To be honest, it's quite scary, because in Russia we found ourselves in the same situation. (Such laws) were piling up little by little, I feel like the same thing is happening here," he said. "I just hope that in Hungary we show more resistance like this right now, because in Russia we didn't show resistance in time, and now it's too late," he added.
After the law was passed, the organizers of the Budapest Pride parade said the aim of the new legislation was to turn the LGBTI community into "scapegoats" to silence the voices of critics of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government. "This is not child protection, this is fascism," wrote the organizers of the event, which draws thousands of people each year and celebrates the history of the LGBTI movement.
The spokesman for the Budapest Gay Pride Parade, Yoyo Majerczyk, said that despite Orban's years of efforts to smear the LGBTI community, the event had received overwhelming support after the Hungarian leader hinted in February that his government would take action to ban the event. "Many, many people have mobilized," Majerczyk said. "We received so many messages and comments from people saying, "I haven't been to Pride before, I didn't care about it, but this year I'm going to be there and I'm bringing my family," he added.
The new law is the latest anti-LGBTQ measure adopted by Orban's government, which has already imposed other laws seen as repressive towards minorities in terms of sexual orientation.