The Hungarian government is clamping down on the country’s annual Budapest Pride parade, which has been running for almost 30 years, saying that it should not “dominate public spaces” – citing what it claims are “child protection” issues.

Organisers of the Budapest Pride march, now in its 30th year, stated: 'There was Pride, there is Pride, and there will be Pride.' View on euronews

Budapest Pride should be held in a "closed venue" this year rather than processing along an avenue in central Budapest as previously, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Chief of Staff said on Wednesday, citing child protection.

The country does not have to tolerate Pride marching through downtown Budapest,” Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said at a Thursday news briefing.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he’ll move to ban the country’s annual Pride parade, raising fears of a wider crackdown on civil liberties ahead of key elections.

Hungary will amend the constitution soon to emphasise child protection, the government said on Thursday, a move paving the way for a ban on the annual Pride march by LGBTQ+ communities which it is targeting ahead of elections next year.

Hungary's government has proposed legal changes to stop the annual Pride march from taking place in the "same public form" as previously, a top official said Thursday. Referring to that speech, Gulyas told journalists: "It follows directly from this that there will be no Pride in the future in the public form in which we have come to know Pride in recent decades.