(14 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Budapest, Hungary – 14 April 2025
1. Demonstrators in front of Hungarian parliament building
2. Police
3. Demonstrators blocking access to parliament parking garage
4. Media and police
5. Demonstrator holding up sign reading (English) "Fidesz (cross), feed us (tick)
6. Demonstrators sitting
7. Police moving media away
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dávid Bedő, Hungarian opposition lawmaker:
"The government will be able to decide, and the exact constitutional amendment says if the crowd or a general assembly could endanger children, whatever that means, then then they could ban the assembly itself. This is the reasoning behind why they are banning Pride as well, so they are banned Budapest Pride as well. And that is why we’re here today. We’re planning to put the parliament under a blockade.”
9. Police taking demonstrator away
10. Police
11. Police taking demonstrator away
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dávid Bedő, Hungarian opposition lawmaker:
"In the past 15 years, step by step, they have been dismantling democracy and the rule of law. And in the past two, three months, we see that this process has been sped up. And since the election is coming up next year, it’s going to be within a year, they will do everything in their power to stay in power. That is what this constitutional amendment is about."
13. Police walking
14. Demonstrators chanting
15. Demonstrators sitting
16. Police walking in front of parliament building
STORYLINE:
Protesters tried to block the Hungarian parliament building on Monday as lawmakers were preparing to vote on a constitutional amendment viewed by many critics as both a crackdown on the freedoms of assembly and expression and the most recent move by the populist government to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ communities.
The amendment, which will almost certainly be passed Monday by the two-thirds majority of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s nationalist Fidesz party, would permanently codify a ban on public events held by LGBTQ+ communities — including the popular Pride event that draws thousands annually in the capital, Budapest.
It will also provide a constitutional basis for denying the gender identities or sexual characteristics of minority groups, and allow for some Hungarians to have their citizenship suspended if they are deemed to pose a threat to Hungary’s security or sovereignty.
The amendment, the 15th to Hungary’s constitution since it was unilaterally authored and approved by Fidesz in 2011, gives legal support to a law fast-tracked in March that made it an offense to hold or attend events that violate the country’s contentious “child protection” legislation, which prohibits the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors aged under 18.
The law also allows authorities to use facial recognition tools to identify individuals that attend prohibited events — such as Budapest Pride — and can come with fines for violators of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints ($546).
Hungarian opposition lawmaker Dávid Bedő accused the government of taking another step towards "dismantling democracy".
Some legal experts have argued that such a restriction on assembly rights violates Hungary’s constitution.
In order to bring the Pride ban in line with constitutional protections, the amendment declares that children’s rights to moral, physical, and spiritual development supersede any other fundamental right other than the right to life — including that to peacefully assemble.
AP video by Bela Szandelszky
===========================================================
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/af2b1045c532467697cdebf62d836d0a
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in April 19, 2025, 6:04 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
