BUDAPEST, July 6, 2008  –  Braving threats of violence from neo-Nazis and other ultra right wing groups, some 1,500 people turned up at the Budapest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Pride March yesterday to express their will to live in a country where the rights of LGBT people – and other minorities – are respected.

And the promised disruption materialised, with the police using water canons and tear gas against the counter demonstrators.

And participants of the Gay Pride were quick to praise the police who “protected the march against serious physical attacks in an exemplary manner”, according to one marcher.

Four different official counter-demonstrations were held against the march, but there were attackers at nearly every corner along the approximately one-mile route.

Counter-demonstrators were throwing petrol bombs, rotten eggs, faeces, eggs filled with acid or paint and cobblestones.

“There was one street where literally a shower of eggs and stones was poured on us,” said Gábor Kuszing of Patent Association.

“I was lucky to have a placard in my hand, and others used umbrellas, but most people just came in their regular clothes.”

Organisers had forewarned participants to carry large umbrellas or wear helmets.

The whole length of Andrássy, where the March took place, was cordoned and counter demonstrators were only allowed in side streets behind yet another set of bars.

SWAT officers in helmets and other protective equipment called in from all over Hungary followed the March on the whole length of the route and intervened where necessary.

“It was great to see the police protecting us, after the police chief tried to ban the march earlier,” Mr Kuszing commented.

“The fact that the police were protecting us is an important message to the neo-Nazi criminals and the public at large.”

The March ended in a cordon-enclosed area, where a concert was going to take place.

However, the neo-Nazi mob had beaten up the performer, who is Roma, and is a target of neo-Nazi hatred herself.

The March started at 4 p.m. after speeches at Erzsébet tér, a central square in Budapest, and after strict security checks upon entrance to prevent neo-Nazis from seeping into the crowd.

At the end of the march, police used tear gas and a water cannon to clear the route for the marchers to leave and escorted the marchers to a metro station at Hősök tere, simultaneously dispersing the mob there.

“For a long time, we could not leave for the station at Hősök tere because the press leaked the information on which metro station we would be transported to,” Mr Kuszing said.

“It felt a bit claustrophobic as we got in the train not knowing where it would drop us off.”

Hungarian gay organisations all said they were grateful for the support that participants of the march showed and hope that the sense of solidarity for the rights of all disenfranchised groups will continue.  They are also saluting the police for making the right decision in the end and effectively protecting the LGBT Pride March.

“We lost a yearly celebration last year but we gained solidarity and legal protection for our right to peaceful assembly,” Mr Kuszing said, summed up this year’s Gay Pride March.