The march began at Budapest City Hall and wound through the city center before crossing the capital's Erzsébet Bridge over the Danube River.

The ban was based on a new law, passed by the big majority held by Orban's Fidesz party in parliament, subordinating the freedom of assembly to a 2021 Child Protection law that equated homosexuality with paedophilia, and therefore banned the portrayal or promotion of homosexuality in places where children might see it.

Beneath a blaze of rainbow flags and amid roars of defiance, big crowds gathered in the Hungarian capital Budapest for the city’s 30th annual Pride march – an event that, this year, is unfolding as both a celebration and a protest.