Budapest Pride Defies Orbán Ban With Record Crowds as Istanbul Police Detain Dozens

A record-breaking crowd estimated at between 100,000 and 200,000 people marched through Budapest on 28 June, defying a police ban imposed under a March 2025 law that prohibits Pride events and threatens participants with €500 fines and organisers with up to one year in prison. The 30th anniversary rally—Hungary’s largest since the fall of communism—transformed into a broad anti-government protest, with rainbow flags filling central bridges and avenues despite temperatures above 35 °C.

Budapest’s liberal mayor, Gergely Karácsony, registered the march as a municipal gathering after national authorities refused permission. The demonstration drew support from some 70 members of the European Parliament, the EU’s Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib and climate activist Greta Thunberg. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had earlier called on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government to respect the right of peaceful assembly, saying “our union is one of equality and non-discrimination.”

Orbán, whose Fidesz party has curtailed LGBTQ rights with a 2021 ‘anti-propaganda’ measure and this year’s Pride ban, denounced the march in a closed briefing to supporters as “repulsive and shameful,” accusing Brussels of orchestrating the turnout. Political analysts said the show of dissent highlights growing resistance to Orbán’s 15-year rule ahead of a national election due next year.

The weekend also underscored regional tensions over LGBTQ rights. In Istanbul on 29 June, police detained at least 30—and, according to some rights groups, more than 50—people who attempted to stage a banned Pride parade. Turkish authorities have outlawed the event annually since 2015, citing public security concerns, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has declared 2025 the ‘Year of the Family,’ warning that LGBTQ activism threatens traditional values.