Controversy swirls around Budapest "pride" parade

Erik D'Amato

Protection first: Police officers lead the procession of the 2004 "pride" parade in Budapest. Disorder surrounding last year's march led the police to temporarily ban the now-traditional July event.

By: All Hungary News

2008-06-13 09:14

The Budapest Police (BRFK) yesterday reversed a decision made a day earlier that would have prevented the running of this year's "pride" march in Budapest, reports hirextra.hu.

According to index.hu, on Wednesday Police Chief Gábor Tóth announced that the parade, scheduled for July 5th, could not be held. In a five-page explanation of the decision, the police said the march would obstruct public transport and traffic in the city. But subsequent statements by police officials indicate that the marchers' rights of freedom of assembly and expression have trumped concerns over any disorder the event might cause.

A communiqué posted on the BRFK website says negotiations between police and parade organizer Rainbow Mission Foundation (Szivárvány Misszió Alapítvány) led to a solution which will allow for the march to take place without the disruption of traffic. The planned route of the march is Andrássy út from Deák Ferenc tér to 56-osok tere.

The organizers protested the first police decision in a public statement which stressed the fact that other marches have been using the same route for years on Saturdays, when traffic in the area is relatively light. The statement went on to suggest that the police were using the issue of traffic to undermine the march, pointing out that gay rights demonstrations had recently been suppressed in Russia and Poland.

Fifteen organizations signed the letter, which asked Tóth to not interpret the country's public assembly law "arbitrarily."

They also asked the police to protect marchers from attacks by counter-demonstrators, rather than trying to prevent such disorder by limiting the rights of the marchers.

This year's festival will be the 13th LGBT festival and march in Hungary. While counter- demonstrations have taken place almost every year the march has been run, last year's event was especially contentious, with opponents throwing eggs, bottles and Molotov cocktails at marchers, some of whom were physically attacked.