Hungary’s supreme court has struck down police ban on Budapest Pride march

Hungary’s supreme court, the Kúria, on Friday said it has struck down a police order that had banned an upcoming march organised by four groups in protest against what they say is a violation of their freedom of assembly.

The Kúria said in a statement that because it had been unable to rule on the legality of the ban on the June 28 gathering due to an absence of substantiated facts, it had annulled the assembly authority’s order and ordered it to carry out a new procedure in which it fulfilled its obligation to provide a statement of the facts of the case as well as a justification.

The court noted that it had recently rejected the organisers’ challenge of a police decision to ban a march for the equality of LGBTQ people. The organisers later announced a parade for the same day that was set to cover the same route in protest against what they say is a violation of their freedom of assembly.

Arguing that the parade that had previously been banned and Budapest Pride were “precedent assemblies”, the authorities rejected the stated purpose of the event and banned it on the grounds that it was in violation of children’s fundamental right related to the protection of their bodily, spiritual and moral development.