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Both the Hungarian government and the opposition are trying to spin Saturday’s Budapest Pride march, which attracted an unprecedented turnout, to serve their own political interests.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called the march “repulsive and shameful,” saying it was not a spontaneous public initiative and instead accused “puppet politicians” in Brussels of orchestrating the event.
“This is proof of what life would be like if our country were not run by a national government defending our sovereignty,” the Prime Minister warned on the Facebook group “Warriors’ Club”, an organisation close to his party Fidesz.
He added that he believed the same would happen in the case of migration and the Ukraine war.
“No demonstration can compete with the 3.7 million voters in the 2022 gender referendum. What’s more, repulsive and shameful things have happened. Drag queen shows on stage, men in high heels, hormone therapy brochures. This is not pride, this is shame,” Orbán wrote.
Despite a government ban, more than 100,000 people took part in the march through Budapest.
Pro-government media claimed it as a success for the Prime Minister. Local media Manidner wrote that Orbán’s master plan has worked: “The opposition has become one with Pride, which polls show is opposed by the majority in Hungary.”
However, Bulcsú Hunyadi, an analyst at Political Capital, believes that the march created an uncomfortable political situation for the ruling Fidesz party.
“Fidesz introduced a law in an effort to ban Pride, but Pride happened, and an unprecedented crowd participated, expressing solidarity not only with the LGBT community, but also expressing their opposition to Fidesz wanting to ban an event,” Hunyadi said, adding that “Fidesz set this trap and fell into it themselves.”
“The tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who took part in this demonstration experienced that there is an impact, there is a reason to stand up for things or to stand against things, you can show strength, and if the government says or does something, it doesn’t necessarily make it happen.”
According to Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, Hungary revealed a different side this weekend, that of a country of solidarity, freedom and Europe.
According to Péter Magyar,** leader of the Tisza party, Orbán managed to render himself as the king of Pride in Europe, as “no one else has managed to mobilise such a large crowd for a demonstration against himself by inciting hatred and incitement.”
Klára Dobrev, chair of the Democratic Coalition, believes the mass attendance is an indicator that people are fed up with Orbán’s style of government.
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