Romanian City Campaigners Vow to Proceed with Pride March Despite Ban

Campaigners in a Romanian city have vowed to go ahead with a Pride march after local authorities denied permission for the fourth consecutive year.

Since 2023, campaigners in the western city of Oradea, which has a population of about 180,000, have sought permission to hold Pride events. However, each year they have faced opposition, making Oradea the only major city in the EU where local authorities have repeatedly blocked Pride marches.

“Every year the local authorities have managed to find legal or technical excuses to ban Oradea Pride events,” said Iulian Dițiu, the co-founder and president of Ark Oradea, the local organiser of Pride.

In 2024, they were told none of the city’s parks were available at the times requested, he said. The following year, campaigners submitted 12 potential routes for the march, only to be told that none was suitable.

In the run-up to Saturday’s proposed march, organisers submitted more than 100 possible routes. On Wednesday, the city authorities said none of them was viable because they clashed with other events or public infrastructure works.

The mayor, who belongs to a party that describes itself as liberal, conservative and Christian democratic, did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.

Dițiu said the repeated refusals sent a broader message. “It feels like the message that they are trying to send our way is that we’re not welcome here,” he said. “They have never said out loud that they are banning Pride for LGBT reasons. They’re always hiding behind technical reasons.”

The dispute has attracted growing international attention. More than 152 organisations from 30 countries have signed a statement calling on officials to allow the march to take place “in complete safety” and in line with EU law.

“After four consecutive years in which the Pride march has been unable to take place, there can be no question of administrative or logistical difficulties,” the statement said. “When an authority consistently prevents a community from assembling peacefully, a principle that concerns all citizens is undermined.”

Their appeal, delivered recently to the local administration in Oradea, drew comparisons between Oradea and Budapest, where Hungary’s former prime minister Viktor Orbán and his rightwing populist movement had sought to ban Pride events.

“In recent years, the restriction of Pride marches has become, in several European states, an indicator of democratic backsliding and the weakening of the rule of law,” the statement said.

Dițiu said organisers intended to proceed with the march on Saturday despite the lack of official permission, repeating last year’s approach.

In 2025, between 500 and 600 people attended an unauthorised march, with nine participants later fined the equivalent of about €4,000 (£3,420) he said.

This time representatives from several diplomatic missions have said they will take part, along with Romania’s ombudsman, he added.

Dițiu described the situation as both “encouraging and disappointing”.

“The institutions that are supposed to protect the rights of every community are trying to use our community as a scapegoat. But many more people are behind us. Many more people understand what the stakes are,” he said.

“This is not an LGBT issue. This is a democratic issue. It’s about the freedom to public assembly. And if the local LGBT community here in Oradea can be denied this basic human right without any repercussion, it can happen pretty much anywhere in Europe, for pretty much any community.”