Huge crowds pack Budapest as banned Pride swells into anti-Orban rally

29/6/2025 8:17

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Hungary’s capital on June 28 as a banned LGBTQ+ rights rally swelled into a mass anti-government demonstration, in one of the biggest shows of opposition to Prime Minister Viktor Orban.



Crowds filled a square near Budapest’s city hall in sweltering heat before setting off across one of the main bridges over the Danube, waving rainbow flags, some draped in capes and some carrying signs mocking Mr 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.



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