BUDAPEST, Hungary — Thousands of protesters rallied for the fourth week in Hungary's capital on Tuesday, denouncing a new law passed by populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's nationalist government banning LGBTQ+ Pride events.
The legislation, fast-tracked through parliament in March, prohibits events depicting homosexuality to those under the age of 18 and has drawn comparisons to Russia's anti-LGBTQ+ policies. It comes as Orbán's administration is increasingly accused of democratic backsliding ahead of national elections next year.
The weekly protests in Budapest have persisted, and on Tuesday, demonstrators filled the Erzsébet Bridge over the Danube, demanding the withdrawal of the law. Some planned to remain on the bridge throughout the night and said there were plans to shut down all five central Danube bridges.
No violence was immediately reported.
The law makes it an offense to hold or attend events such as Pride, which some legal experts and human rights groups say is Orbán's latest crackdown on Hungary's LGBTQ+ community and an arbitrary restriction on the right to assembly.
Viktória Vajda, one of the protesters, said the time for trying to find common ground with Orbán's government ''has passed.''
''If we don't stand up for the rights of minorities and for our own fundamental rights, then who will when they come for us?'' she said. ''We've reached the point where we have to stand up and say, ‘No more'.''
The protests have defied police orders to disperse from bridges and main thoroughfares in Budapest. And in a rare instance of a street protest outside the Hungarian capital, several hundred demonstrators in the eastern city of Miskolc also protested on Tuesday against the law.
