Hungarian police propose charges against Budapest mayor over banned Pride march

BUDAPEST, Dec ‌12 (Reuters) - Hungarian police proposed on Friday that prosecutors should press charges ‍against ‌Budapest's liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony over his role in arranging an LGBTQ+ ⁠rights rally that turned into ‌an anti-government protest in June.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Budapest on June 28 as a banned Pride march swelled into a mass anti-government demonstration in one ⁠of the biggest shows of opposition to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The Chief Prosecution Office ​of Budapest confirmed in an email to Reuters that ‌it had received files from ⁠the police investigation. It did not say whether it would press charges or what those charges might be.

"I am proud that I took ​every political risk for my city's freedom, and I will proudly face the court to defend my own freedom and my city's freedom," Karacsony said in a video posted on his Facebook page on Thursday.

Orban's government ​has ‍steadily curtailed the rights of ​the LGBTQ+ community in the past decade, and lawmakers passed a law in March that allowed for the banning of Pride marches, citing the need to protect children.

Critics of Orban cast that move as part of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms ahead of an election next year when ⁠the Hungarian leader will face the biggest challenge to his rule since he came to power in 2010.

Karacsony ​tried to circumvent the ban on the Pride march by organising it as a municipal event, which he said did not need a permit. Police still banned the event, arguing that it ‌fell under the scope of the child protection law, but in the end the mass march went ahead peacefully.

(Reporting by Anita KomuvesEditing by Gareth Jones)