Defiant Budapest mayor questioned over Pride march

Budapest mayor Mayor Gergely Karacsony was defiant Friday as he arrived for questioning over the city's 30th Pride parade that attracted a record turnout despite an official ban.

Karacsony wore a T-shirt featuring the capital's coat of arms overlaid with rainbow colours when he entered the headquarters of Hungary's top investigative authority.

If the environmentalist mayor is charged and convicted, he could spend up to a year in prison for organising a banned rally.

"At Budapest Pride, a great many of us signalled to the whole world that neither freedom nor love can be banned in Budapest," he said.

"And if it cannot be banned, it cannot be punished," he told a few hundred supporters gathered outside.

Organisers said more than 200,000 people took part in the June 28 parade in what they claimed was a rebuke of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's years-long clampdown on LGBTQ rights in the name of "child protection".

After the nationalist leader declared his intention to ban this year's celebration, his ruling coalition in parliament passed new laws to prohibit the annual parade.

Budapest city hall then stepped in to co-organise the event, arguing the police could not ban a municipal event.

Before the march, Orban warned organisers and attendees of "legal consequences".

The National Bureau of Investigation — tasked with investigating serious and complex crimes — later launched a probe against an "unknown perpetrator" for organising a banned rally.

But police announced last month they would not take action against participants, who could have faced fines up to 500 euros for attending the Pride parade.