S612-HUNGRIA MARCHA ORGULLO BUDAPEST

STORY: Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Hungary's capital on Saturday (June 28) as a banned LGBTQ+ rights rally swelled into a mass demonstration against the government.

Crowds filled a square near Budapest's city hall before setting off across the city, some waving rainbow flags, others carrying signs mocking Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

"This is about much more, not just about homosexuality, .... This is the last moment to stand up for our rights," Eszter Rein Bodi, one of the marchers, said.

Small groups of far-right counter-protesters attempted to disrupt the parade, but police kept them away and diverted the route of the march to avoid any clashes.

Orban's nationalist government has gradually curtailed the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in the past decade, and its lawmakers passed a law in March that allows for the ban of Pride marches, citing the need to protect children.

Opponents see the move as part of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms ahead of a national election next year when Orban will face a strong opposition challenger.

Organisers said participants arrived from 30 different countries, including 70 members of the European Parliament.

More than 30 embassies have expressed support for the march and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Hungarian authorities to let the parade go ahead.

Seventy Hungarian civil society groups, including the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Transparency International Hungary and the Hungarian Helsinki Commission, published an open letter on Friday in support of the march, saying the law that led to the police ban "serves to intimidate the entire society".