Visitors to the banned rainbow march flooded the streets of Budapest and completely filled Deák Square near the city hall. According to Hungarian media, tens of thousands of people marched through the city. Organizers estimated the turnout for the 30th Pride in the Hungarian capital at almost 200,000.

In addition to Hungarians, the rally was also attended by politicians and ordinary people from various countries, including Slovakia. Many foreign license plates were seen driving through Budapest.

And all this despite the fact that the police banned the march based on an amendment to the assembly law that was passed by the Hungarian parliament in March of this year. In response, the mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, announced that the police could not ban the city event, which the authorities did not agree with. There were therefore concerns about how today's rally would turn out and whether there would be violence and arrests. According to available information, this did not happen.

The participants were not deterred by the risk of a fine of up to 500 euros, and the organizers were not deterred by the threat of imprisonment. They took to the streets, marching in huge crowds through the center of Budapest, and the police did not stop them. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Friday, June 27, that this would happen, but at the same time again warned of"legal consequences" for the participants.

Counter-demonstrations were smaller than organizers feared

Several small counter-demonstrations took place in Budapest on Saturday. Despite warnings and concerns about possible violence, the turnout was reportedly negligible.

The Hungarian radical movement Mi Hazánk – “Our Homeland” – had a partial “success”. It blocked the Freedom Bridge, where the march was originally supposed to go. However, the visitors ultimately did not make it, and the organizers redirected the crowd in another direction – to the Elizabeth Bridge. The Pride was thus non-violent and smooth.

Minority?

"No one expected, not even in their wildest dreams, that there would be so many of us," the Hungarian portal Telex quoted one of the event's moderators, Ildikó Kovalcsik. After the crowd had passed through Budapest's boulevard, it stopped under a prepared stage at the local technical university, from where several well-known figures on the Hungarian liberal scene, including the mayor of Budapest, spoke. The final event of the march was delayed by several hours because of the huge crowd.

Tens of thousands of people in Budapest today waved not only rainbow flags, but also various banners criticizing Viktor Orbán. “Excuse me, but you did not look like people who are banned here,” said the mayor of the Hungarian capital, Karácsony, in his speech. “They showed their asses to an arrogant, hateful power,” he said.

Politicians and mayors from abroad also took to the stage. The radicals from Mi Hazánk have meanwhile filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office, claiming that the police themselves illegally prevented them from blocking the Szent Gellért embankment. They claim that"the government's conservative and child protection policies completely collapsed on Pride Day," Hungarian media reported.