Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has warned on Friday that anyone involved in this weekend's banned Pride of Budapest march will face "legal consequences".
Claiming the move was needed to protect children, Orbán's conservative government passed legislation earlier this year that allows police to prohibit public LGBTQ+ events.
Despite the ban, Budapest's liberal Mayor Gergely Karácsony has vowed to go ahead with the Pride march in the Hungarian capital on Saturday.
Speaking to Euronews, Karácsony claimed the event was "perfectly legal".
"The Hungarian Parliament has passed an amendment to the Assembly Act, which means that Pride, which is covered by the Assembly Act, was not authorised by the police," Karácsony explained.
"However, we're instead organising a municipal event, which is not covered by this law. The municipality is inviting the people of Budapest to another event in its own public spaces, organised by itself, so it is perfectly legal."
Minister of Justice Bence Tuzson quickly claimed that the march does fall under the Assembly Act and is therefore prohibited.
Tuzson said that Karácsony could face one year in prison and a fine for organising the event.
Hard-to-dodge fines
Those involved in Saturday's march could also be forced to pay fines.
As well as approving the use of AI-powered facial recognition to identify people at banned events, Orbán’s party, Fidesz, has streamlined the process of issuing them with financial penalties.
Kristóf András Kádár, the co-president of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights organisation, told Euronews that the Budapest mayor has a strong legal case, but that participants may still be fined.
"I think that ultimately the reduction or cancellation of the fine can be achieved through different legal procedures," Kádár said, "But at least temporarily they need to be paid."
Fines are not the only concern. There is also a growing fear that violence from other groups could pose a serious threat to Pride participants.
Hungarian police have authorised the counter-demonstration of the far-right Our Homeland (Mi Hazánk), which is set to partially overlap with the planned route of Budapest Pride.
Separately, the police released a statement saying that it considers the Budapest Pride event to be a "prohibited gathering". The statement goes on to state that organisers will be "liable" for any damage that may occur, while adding that "several assemblies" are set to take place in the same location at the same time.
Orbán has urged people this week not to take part in the Budapest Pride march.
"If someone does something like this, then there is a clear legal procedure, which must be followed", Orbán said.
"But we are a civilised country, we don't hurt each other, we've never had a civil war here, maybe a little bit in '56, but we don't hurt each other even if we don't agree. It's not part of Hungarian political culture," he added.
