Budapest’s Flag War Escalates as Nationalists Replace Pride Flags With Tricolors
25th June 2026
Budapest’s escalating flag war took another turn this week after dozens of Hungarian national flags appeared on Elisabeth Bridge, replacing the Pride banners that had flown there only days earlier.
The secret of the new flags was quickly revealed by El?d Novák, vice-president of the nationalist Our Homeland Movement (Mi Hazánk), who said he and members of the party’s youth wing had placed a Hungarian flag in every pole holder on the bridge. They did this before the city’s mayor could replace the Pride flags that had previously flown there until they were thrown into the Danube by a protester.
“Budapest belongs to everyone,” Novák wrote on Facebook. “That’s why it’s unacceptable for it to be appropriated by any party or political movement, such as the LGBTQETC lobby with its flags.”
“Instead of a foreign ideology imported from abroad, we proclaim patriotism and that we Hungarians have plenty to be proud of,” the party added in a statement.