Mi Hazank demands ban on gay march

The radical nationalist Mi Hazank party has called on the interior minister and the police to ban this year's Budapest Pride march set for July 6. Mi Hazank leader Laszlo Toroczkai said his party would stage counterdemonstrations "for public morals" if the march goes ahead as planned. Toroczkai said the police applied double standards and argued that they had banned a march Mi Hazank planned earlier for Torokszentmiklos, in eastern Hungary, "against gypsy criminals", on the grounds that it would restrict the free movement of residents. He went on to say that "the thousands of deviants planning to stage a provocation" would hinder the movement of much more residents in Budapest. Toroczkai insisted that participants in the Pride march would "demonstrate against families and traditional values rather than for homosexual rights". He added that the march would be a "provocation" against the Christian church and "desecration" of national symbols.