Thousands defy ban to join Pride march in Budapest
If Hungary’s authorities thought banning this year’s Pride march would keep people off the streets, they were wrong.
Thousands turned out in Budapest, defying a law which said LGBTQ+ events like this should be cancelled to protect children.
The crowd was determined to fight for their rights.
Rainbow flags were on display everywhere as people celebrated Pride. Pic: Reuters
Huge crowds crossed the Elisabeth Bridge over the Danube. Pic: Reuters
“This is a special march, not just because it was the 30th, but also because it was banned,” said Orsi, who proudly wore a rainbow headband and waved a rainbow flag.
“I mean that’s all the more reason to go out on the street and show that Budapest and Hungary is a place where everybody is welcome, where love is equal,” she added.
Orsi told Sky News that it was a special march and worth the risk of being fined
Attendees had been warned that just being there could mean a 500 euro fine or prison time for the organisers.
They were told police would use facial recognition cameras to identify them, but they didn’t care.
Orsi said it was worth a fine.
Leonas had travelled from Poland to show his support and was also happy to take the risk.
“LGBT rights are attacked across the whole world, and we need to defend each other and work with each other,” he said.
Leonas from Poland felt it was important to defend LGBTQ+ rights
Viktor Orban’s government has repeatedly pitched family values against LGBTQ+ rights.
“The mother is a woman, the father is a man and leave our kids alone,” he told conservative audiences in the past.
He says he is protecting Hungary’s Christian values, but critics say this is just part of a wider attack on democracy which has happened during his 15 years in control.
The Pride ban is just the latest targeting of LGBTQ+ communities.
Budapest was transformed into a sea of bright colours, as marchers defied a ban. Pic: AP
Pic: Reuters
In 2020, the country abolished its legal recognition of transgender people, and in 2021, politicians passed a law banning the depiction of homosexuality to under-18s.
While many were outraged by the attempt to cancel the Pride march, a small number of far-right activists organised demonstrations to show their support:
“Hungary and the Hungarian nation don’t want the aggressive LGBTQ+ propaganda. They are dangerous for our families, they are dangerous for our kids,” said Gabor Kelemen, a member of the 64 Counties Youth Movement.
Gabor Kelemen, from a far-right group, thinks Pride represents LGBTQ+ propaganda that is ‘dangerous for our families’
However, the packed streets showed many disagree.
At one point, as far as the eye could see, the march snaked through streets and across the city’s bridges. The sound of drums and whistles mixing with gay anthems blaring out of speakers.
The organisers said they believed this will be the largest Pride march ever in Budapest.
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The crowd was eclectic, with Hungarians from different communities joining a demonstration which many believe is now part of a fight for Hungary’s future.
“This is not only about the complexity of Pride, not only about love or equality… for Hungarians, it’s about sticking together, supporting each other, showing the government that we believe in a different kind of Hungary. We believe in freedom, we believe in democracy,” said activist Adam Kanicsar.
Activist Adam Kanicsar believes the Pride march will send an important message to Hungary’s government
Despite the ban, today Pride attendees were celebrating a victory. But make no mistake, many in Hungary do not support the parade or what they see as an attack on traditional values.
Next year, the country will hold a general election, a vote which will expose how divided Hungary really is.
Israel has shown little respect for international borders since becoming the unrivalled military hegemon of the Middle East. Today that meant an Israeli airstrike on a government building in Damascus.
Israel says its attack on a Syrian defence ministry facility was intended as a warning to the new government: stay out of the part of southern Syria we have occupied or else.
Israel has moved into parts of the south of the country, built military bases and declared a line of control.
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Syrian Defence Ministry in Damascus. Pic: AP
On Monday, Syrian tanks heading south to try and restore order following an outbreak of factional fighting were attacked by Israeli warplanes.
“The presence of such vehicles in southern Syria could pose a threat to Israel,” stated the Israel Defence Forces.
In reality, Syria’s ageing tanks pose minimal threat to Israel’s state-of-the art military.
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Syrian presenter interrupted by Israeli airstrike
The Syrian armour was attacked as it entered the area around Sweida in the Druze heartland of southern Syria following factional fighting there.
The flare-up reportedly began with clashes between Bedouin and Druze groups that ended in scores killed.
The background to the escalation is complicated.
At least three Druze militia groups are divided in their loyalties to different religious leaders and differ over how they should respond to calls to assimilate into the new post-revolutionary Syria.
Druze from Syria and Israel protest on the Israeli-Syrian border.
Pic: AP
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Israel is becoming more and more involved in Syria’s internecine war and says it will remain there indefinitely “to protect our communities and thwart any threat”.
Its critics say Israel is operating a policy of divide and rule in Syria, weakening the fledgling government and creating a buffer zone to protect the border with the Golan Heights – originally Syrian territory that it has occupied and annexed for almost half a century.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has used airstrikes to destroy of much of Syria’s military capability weakening its ability to impose control on outlying regions. This makes it more not less likely Israel will have a volatile unstable state on its northern border.
Syrian security forces walk along a street in the southern Druze city of Sweida. Pic: Reuters
America and European powers have chosen to normalise relations with the new government in Damascus and lift sanctions.
In contrast Israel has occupied its territory, bombed its military and today hit one of its government buildings in the capital with an airstrike.
Since its crushing military campaigns against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, Israel has emerged as the unchallenged military power of the region.
There is however a limit to what blunt force can achieve alone. It requires diplomacy to achieve lasting gains and Israel’s repeated assaults on multiple neighbours combined with its relentless campaign in Gaza are winning it few friends in the region.
Israeli airstrikes have targeted the Syrian military headquarters in Damascus amid renewed clashes in the country.
The gate of the Ministry of Defence in the Syrian capital was targeted by two warning missiles from an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft.
State-owned Elekhbariya TV said the Israeli strike had wounded two civilians, the Reuters news agency reported.
Smoke rises from Syria’s defence ministry building in Damascus. Pic: Reuters
It came as Israeli airstrikes targeted security and army vehicles in the southern city of Sweida, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups – marking the third consecutive day Israel has struck Syrian forces.
The Israeli military confirmed it had “struck the entrance gate” in Damascus – and that it would be monitoring “actions being taken against Druze civilians in southern Syria”.
The Israeli airstrike targeted Syria’s military headquarters. Pic: AP
Why Israel is getting involved in Syria’s internal fighting
Israel has shown little respect for international borders since becoming the unrivalled military hegemon of the Middle East. Today that meant an Israeli airstrike on a government building in Damascus.
Israel says its attack on a Syrian defence ministry facility was intended as a warning to the new government: stay out of the part of southern Syria we have occupied or else.
Israel has moved into parts of the south of the country, built military bases and declared a line of control.
On Monday, Syrian tanks heading south to try and restore order following an outbreak of factional fighting were attacked by Israeli warplanes.
“The presence of such vehicles in southern Syria could pose a threat to Israel,” stated the Israel Defence Forces.
In reality, Syria’s ageing tanks pose minimal threat to Israel’s state-of-the art military.
Local media said Sweida and nearby villages were coming under heavy artillery and mortar fire on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The clashes marked the collapse of a ceasefire between Syrian government forces and Druze armed groups, with Israel also warning it would increase its involvement.
Syria said its forces had responded to being fired upon. Pic: Reuters
Israel said it was acting to protect the Druze groups through its attacks on convoys of Syrian forces.
Syria blamed militias in Sweida for violating a ceasefire agreement which had only been reached on Tuesday.
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A statement from its defence ministry said: “Military forces continue to respond to the source of fire inside the city of Sweida, while adhering to rules of engagement to protect residents, prevent harm, and ensure the safe return of those who left the city back to their homes.”
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said the military will continue to strike Syrian forces until they withdraw and should “leave Druze alone”, according to local reports.
At least 20 people have been killed in an incident in Khan Younis, according to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israel and US-backed organisation.
In a statement, it said 19 people were trampled and one was stabbed in a surge “driven by agitators in the crowd”.
“We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd – armed and affiliated with Hamas – deliberately fomented the unrest,” it said.
“For the first time since operations began, GHF personnel identified multiple firearms in the crowd, one of which was confiscated. An American worker was also threatened with a firearm by a member of the crowd during the incident.”
It provided no evidence to support the claim.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claimed 21 Palestinians were killed, “including 15 who died of suffocation as a result of tear gas fired at the starving people and the subsequent stampede” at the GHF site.
Read analysis: Deaths go up when aid sites open
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Gaza deaths increase when aid sites open
The statement is unusual for the GHF, as the controversial group, which has been rejected by the United Nations and other aid groups, rarely acknowledges trouble at its distribution sites.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the territory.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner. It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the UN has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
People carry distributed aid supplies in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza. File pic: AP
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups – which refuse to work with the GHF – had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
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UN data on Gaza deaths ‘disinformation’, claims GHF chief
Since the GHF sites began operating, more than 875 people have been killed while receiving aid, both at GHF distribution points or elsewhere, according to the UN human rights office and the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
At least 674 of those have been killed in the vicinity of aid distribution sites run by the GHF.
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