Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán classified Saturday’s pride parade as “repulsive and shameful”, accusing the European Union of guiding opposition politicians organizing the event, which became an old protest, the local media reported on Sunday.
The march in Budapest to LGBTQ+ has become one of the biggest opposition demonstrations to Orbán in recent years, when about 100,000 participants have challenged police ban and threats of fines to participate in the demonstration.
Speaking of an online group closed to his supporters named Club da Fight on Sunday, Orbán said that opposition politicians instructed by “Brussels” had called on their voters to participate in the event in large numbers, according to the Local Index News Agency.
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“Since yesterday, we are even more certain than these people [políticos de oposição] They cannot approach the command of the government. And we won’t allow it, ”Orbán told his supporters, according to Index.
He showed no evidence for his comments. But the event was organized by the municipality of Budapest, led by Mayor Gergely Karacyry, and Orbán’s government accuses him of being a “puppet” of Brussels for years.
Reuters contacted the organizers of the parade and the city, but they did not respond immediately.
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The European Commission refused to comment on Orbán’s statements.
The prime minister told his supporters that he considered the events of the “repulsive and shameful” pride parade, specifically mentioning a drag queen show, men wearing high heels and leaflets on hormonal therapies.
The march was prohibited based on a law approved in March that allows the prohibition of pride stops, citing the need to protect children.
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Orbán opponents see the ban as part of a broader repression of democratic freedoms before next year’s national elections, when the veteran Prime Minister-whose party dominated Hungary’s political scenario for 15 years-will face a strong opponent.
On Friday, Orbán said that the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who the week asked the Hungarian authorities to allow the pride parade, considered Hungary “as a subordinate country” and compared his message to the receipt of Moscow orders at the time of communism.
Reuters could not independently confirm the content of the Prime Minister’s message cited by Index. A government spokesman did not immediately answer Reuters’ questions about the authenticity of the report.
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The Orbán government, which promotes a conservative Christian agenda, gradually reduced the rights of the LGBTQ+ community over the past decade. His government advocates restrictions by saying that the need to protect children overcome all other rights.
