Amnesty International asks Hungary to allow Budapest gay Pride

Human rights charity Amnesty International has asked Hungary to allow this year’s Budapest Pride.

After asking permission to hold a rally outside parliament, organisers were told that the entire march would be banned.

Police said it would cause traffic disruption but gay campaigners claimed the decision was politically-motivated.

The march was scheduled for June 18th.

Amnesty said that the banning of the march was a “violation of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and non-discrimination as set out in several international human rights conventions to which Hungary is party”.

It added that the ban was “disproportionate and without reasonable justification”.

Police apparently did not object to the march before organisers asked to stop outside parliament.

This week, the Rainbow Mission Foundation, assisted by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, appealed to the Budapest Metropolitan Court over the ban.