Beneath a blaze of rainbow flags and amid roars of defiance, big crowds gathered in the Hungarian capital Budapest for the city’s 30th annual Pride march – an event that, this year, is unfolding as both a celebration and a protest.

Moving through the capital in the sweltering heat, demonstrators carried signs reading “Solidarity with Budapest Pride” and waved placards bearing crossed-out illustrations of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Music played from portable speakers as people of all ages joined the march – families with pushchairs, teenagers draped in capes, and older residents walking alongside activists.

From the city’s historic centre to its riverside roads, the procession swelled in numbers and noise – visibly reclaiming public space in defiance of a law designed to push them out.

The march proceeded in open defiance of a police ban imposed earlier this year under sweeping new legislation that prohibits LGBTQ+ events nationwide.

Eszter Rein Bodi was one of those who joined the massive crowds in Budapest on Saturday, telling Reuters: “This is about much more, not just about homosexuality … This is the last moment to stand up for our rights.”

Krisztina Aranyi, another marcher, told the news agency that “the right to assembly is a basic human right, and I don’t think it should be banned.”

She added, “Just because someone does not like the reason why you go to the street, or they do not agree with it, you still have the right to do so.”

Huge crowds turned out in the city for the parade, with many holding homemade banners aloft. One sign read “Transgender people are a blessing on this earth” while another banner read “Proud. United. Equal in every corner of the EU.”

“Pride is a protest, and if Orbán can ban Budapest Pride without consequences, every pride is one election away from being banned,” she continued.

In March, Hungarian lawmakers passed legislation barring Pride events and permitting the use of facial recognition technology to identify participants – measures campaigners say is illegal and part of a wider crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community.

Orban welcomed the ban, which he said would outlaw gatherings that “violate child protection laws.” His government has pushed a strongly Christian and conservative agenda.

The ban sparked lively protests in Budapest in March, with organizers of the city’s Pride vowing to continue with the annual festival despite the new law and declaring: “We will fight this new fascist ban.”

A petition demanding police reject the ban has gathered over 120,000 signatures from supporters in 73 countries, urging authorities to “reject this unjust law” – believed to be the first of its kind in the EU’s recent history – and ensure that the march proceeded “unhindered and peacefully, free from discrimination, harassment, fear or violence.”

The Israeli military detained six settlers in the occupied West Bank overnight after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say the suspects attacked security forces.

The IDF says they spotted Israeli civilians driving toward a closed military zone near the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik, where days earlier settlers set fire to homes and vehicles in an attack Palestinian officials say killed three people.

When Israeli forces approached the group, the IDF says the soldiers were physically assaulted and verbally abused. In addition, the suspects vandalized and damaged the security forces’ vehicles and attempted to ram the forces.

Six suspects were apprehended and transferred to police, the IDF said.

“The IDF and Israel Police condemn any act of violence against security forces and will act firmly against any attempt to harm security personnel carrying out their duty to protect Israeli citizens,” the IDF said in a statement.

Israeli politicians condemned the settler attacks against Israeli security forces.

Head of the opposition Yair Lapid said in a statement on social media, “The extremists who attack IDF soldiers who are guarding the security of the State of Israel during these difficult days are dangerous criminals who are aiding our enemies.”

Yair Golan, the head of the left-wing Democrats party, who had called earlier settler attacks in the area a “violent Jewish pogrom,” said the violence from “the Kahanist, nationalist, and fantastic Israel is deliberately working to dismantle the Jewish and democratic Israel.” Golan referenced Meir Kahane, an extremist rabbi whose political party was banned outright in Israel under anti-terror laws.

“This is not a marginal occurrence. This is a dangerous current that has taken deep roots. Even around the government table,” Golan said, a reference to the far-right ministers that prop up the coalition government, including Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom were sanctioned earlier this month by the UK, Canada, and other Western allies. Smotrich has called for formal annexation of West Bank settlements, while Ben-Gvir’s party consists of followers of Kahane’s banned political party.

In a statement, Defense Minister Israel Katz called on law enforcement authorities to act immediately to locate all those who resorted to violence and bring them to justice “as is done everywhere.”

On Friday, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority presidency, said the settler attacks are part of a plan by Israel’s “extremist right-wing government” to drag the West Bank into a larger confrontation, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. Abu Rudeineh held Israel fully responsible for “the consequences of this bloody aggression,” WAFA said.

Israel has been ramping up military operations in the West Bank alongside the offensive in Gaza and attacks on Iran and its proxies, displacing thousands of Palestinians and razing entire communities as it targets what it says are militants operating in the territory.

Earlier this week, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the West Bank, Palestinian health authorities said. The Israeli military said that “terrorists hurled explosive devices at IDF forces.”

In late-May, Israel approved a massive expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank in a move decried as de facto annexation of large swaths of the territory. Peace Now, an Israeli non-governmental organization that tracks settlements, said it was the largest expansion of settlements since the signing of the Oslo Accords more than 30 years ago.

Israel plans to establish 22 new settlements, including deep within the West Bank and in areas from which the country had previously withdrawn. Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, as well as in East Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights, are considered illegal under international law.

After Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez tied the knot in Venice on Friday, a few hundred protesters gathered Saturday at a city train station for a march, united with one message for the Amazon billionaire and his bride: go away.

“Bezos, f**k off,” they chanted in Italian. “Out of our lagoon!”

One bearded man toted a Shrek-themed placard with the same message: “Get Out of Our Lagoon,” the “a” in lagoon sprouting Shrek ears, with a Spotify link below for the theme song from the first movie in the series, Smash Mouth’s “All Star.”

“Bezos goes hand-in-hand with (US President Donald) Trump, who’s fueling more money in war,” one woman bellowed into a microphone by the station. “We are for peace.”

Sofia D’Amato, a 22-year-old Venetian, emphasized that the protests weren’t about envy for Bezos’ wealth or power.

Venice’s Ministry of Tourism says the three-day wedding, which reportedly cost $55 million, could provide a boost of almost 68% of the city’s annual tourism turnover. On top of that, Sanchez and Bezos gave 1 million euros each to three Venetian cultural institutions, according to Reuters; a total of 3 million euros worth of donations.

Their philanthropy left D’Amato unimpressed.

“They say that Jeff Bezos donated money to Venice,” D’Amato said. “It was donated after our dissent. Such a sum for a magnate is paltry.”

Protesters drew a stark contrast between the decadence of Bezos and Sanchez’s wedding the day before and the harsh realities of working at the billionaire’s company.

“We can barely pay the rent,” one woman, who identified herself as an Amazon worker, told a crowd of demonstrators. “Many of us come from far away to reach the warehouse. We make do … we don’t see these millions.”

Some protesters joined in an old leftist chant as the demonstration moved toward the Ponte delle Guglie: “The people united will never be defeated.”

At least one protester took aim at the couple’s fashion sense with a sign declaring that “Money Can’t Buy Style.”

Many held aloft Amazon boxes with various messages inscribed: “Rejected,” “No Space for Bezos.”

Multiple flags were visible among the protesters: Palestinian flags, pride flags, anti-fascist flags and Venice’s fimbriated red standard were among the popular choices. A few individuals waved a modified version, the sword-bearing golden lion at its hoist wearing a black balaclava.

Venice city officials were unamused by the protesters, denouncing them in a press release as “ridiculous” and “grotesque.”

“Contesting a wedding (any wedding) is already ridiculous in itself. But here we have exceeded all limits of common sense,” read a municipal statement released Saturday. “We have descended into the folklore of ‘No to everything.’”