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Police must ensure that people can celebrate in safety
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200+ Amnesty International delegates to march, including Secretary General
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Global petition with more than 120,000 signatures handed into police HQ
Authorities must ensure people’s right to protest is protected, as is their ability to take part safely in Saturday’s Budapest Pride, free from intimidation, harassment or violence, said Amnesty International ahead of tomorrow’s 30th anniversary Budapest Pride March, which has been banned by the police.
More than 200 Amnesty International delegates from 17 of the organization’s sections will join the march, including the organization’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard. A petition, signed by more than 120,000 people from 73 countries, was handed in to the Police Headquarters on Wednesday by Dávid Vig, Director of Amnesty International Hungary, reminding the city’s chief of police of his duty to respect, protect and facilitate people’s right to peacefully protest.
Let Pride March petition handover in Budapest, Hungary by Dávid Vig, Director of AIHU and Eszter Mihály LGBTI rights expert of AIHU ©Amnesty International
“The attempted ban on Budapest Pride has exposed the depths to which the Hungarian authorities will sink to try and roll back fundamental rights. But it has also shown the heights that can be achieved when we come together to resist,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International Secretary General.
“The full-frontal attack on Hungary’s LGBTI people and the right to peaceful assembly has been met with a steely response by so many people across the country. I am proud to march alongside them through the streets of Budapest. As the outpouring of solidarity from across the globe has shown, the world is watching.”
In April, discriminatory legislation came into force that has already been used to ban Pride marches and other protests supporting equal rights of LGBTI people in Hungary. Under its terms it is ‘forbidden to hold an assembly in violation’ of 2021 legislation banning the ‘depiction and promotion’ of homosexuality and diverse gender identities to people under 18. The law grants authorities the power to use facial recognition technology to identify participants and to fine those who participate in any prohibited assembly. According to the Criminal Code, organizers of an assembly which is banned may risk criminal charges and up to one year of imprisonment.
On 17 June, Budapest’s mayor announced that the city would host the official Pride as a municipal event and therefore not require police approval. Police issued a ban on the event arguing that it is actually a public assembly. On 19 June, Budapest’s mayor announced that Pride will go ahead anyway.
“We will not be intimidated by bans, threats and strong-arm tactics. Instead, those of us marching, and those cheering us on from afar, will draw strength from one another and from our shared certainty that, ultimately, humanity will win,” said Agnès Callamard.
“For the last 30 years, people in Hungary have celebrated Pride in Budapest peacefully. Hungarian authorities must stop this attempt to turn the clock back. They must lift the bans, repeal the discriminatory laws, and ensure people taking part in Budapest Pride can march free from intimidation, harassment or violence.”
“Amnesty International will be at Pride with a delegation of more than 200 people because no matter where we live, we all believe in equality, love and justice. This is a historic moment for Hungary where authorities must guarantee the human rights of the people, rather than pleasing a government which wants to silence us,” said Dávid Vig, Director of Amnesty Hungary.
Background
The Amnesty International delegation to Budapest Pride includes over 200 people from 17 countries.
As revealed in a 2024 Amnesty report, Hungary is one of several European countries flouting its international and regional human rights obligations to respect, protect and facilitate peaceful assemblies, to remove obstacles and to avoid unwarranted interferences with people’s right to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.
The Budapest municipality announced that Budapest Pride will take place as a municipal event. This means that, formally, it does not require police notification, unlike regular assemblies. However, the Budapest police interpreted this announcement as a notification for a demonstration and issued a ban, claiming it is an unauthorized assembly. At the same time and location, a counter-protest has also been organized, with their notification to the police submitted before the municipality’s announcement. The police have stated that this counter-protest will take precedence over the Pride.
The Mayor of Budapest responded by saying that since the Pride is a municipal event, it does not require notification, therefore the police’s decision should not affect it.