I was just about to book my ticket for Budapest gay Pride , and I got this note today!

For immediate publishing
14 February 2011
 
Police bans gay pride march in Budapest
 
We, the undersigned non-governmental organizations are appalled by the decision of the Budapest Police prohibiting the LGBT Pride March to be held on 18 June 2011. The reason is the same as two years ago: the march disrupts the traffic. The police had already acknowledged the march for part of the route in September 2010, but the modified longer route has now been rejected.
 
Rainbow Mission Foundation, the organizer of the Budapest Pride Film and Cultural Festival and the Pride March, notified the Budapest Police of the event planned on the usual route (Andrássy út – Kodály körönd – Oktogon – Opera – Erzsébet tér) already in September 2010, and this notification was acknowledged by the Police.
 
In January the organizers decided that this year they will return to the pre-2007 tradition of having a longer march and the route was extended to Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út – Alkotmány utca – Kossuth tér in order to express their opposition to proposals seriously limiting the rights of the LGBT community, such as incorporating the ban of same-sex marriage into the new Constitution. During the negotiations with the police, the organizers accepted that the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Parliament’s Office has requested and received a permission to occupy Kossuth tér, and hence the corner of Alkotmány utca and Kossuth tér was defined as the end of the march.
 
After experiencing the constructive atmosphere of the negotiations we are appalled that one day after the deadline afforded for decision-making had expired, the police prohibited the march.
 
It is difficult to understand, in particular, why the police discuss at length in their recent decision banning the march the hindrance of the traffic on Andrássy út, while this was not a problem in September 2010.
 
We urge the Chief of the Budapest Police to refrain from the arbitrary interpretation of the Act on the Right of Assembly, stop restricting the freedom of assembly of the LGBT community and those who support the march, and accept the repeated notification of the demonstration.
 
DAMKÖR
“Friss Gondolat Ifjúsági Egyesület”
Hatter Support Society
Labrisz Lesbian Association
Hungarian LGBT Alliance
Szimpozion Association
Rainbow Mission Foundation