The eventful week of a multi-coloured bench

Over the past week, a simple park bench located in Tompa street in the 9th district of Budapest has become a reflection of just how divided Hungarian society has become.

It all started when the district leadership teamed up with Amnesty International to paint the bench in the colours of the rainbow as a show of support for the local LGBTQ+ community. Locals frequenting the area found the bench sporting its new colours and the words “open, free, happy” on the morning of July 6th.

Just two days later, the bench was repainted in the green and white colours of the local football team, Fradi, and according to the writing left on bench, was the handiwork of the team’s fans, a group known as “Aryan Greens”.

In the days that followed, the bench went back to both the colours of the rainbow and green and white one more time. The second time it was painted green and white, “STOP LMBTQ” was also spray painted on the ground in front of it.

Then, in a surprise move, someone painted it brown. They also left a note saying: “I just want to be a bench that’s good for everyone. For you, for them, for all of us.”

Commenting on the saga, the district’s mayor, Krisztina Baranyi said that it would have been better if the Fradi-ultras or anyone else had expressed their dissent in a permitted context, rather than by painting the bench. Regardless of it all, she considers it all part of the expression of opinion – just like Amnesty's rainbow painting.

Finally, on Thursday morning, a week after the first new coat of paint, the locals of the 9th district woke up to a red-white-green (colours of the Hungarian flag) bench. This time, the bench inspired Csongor Vékony, leader of right wing Mi Hazánk’s Budapest division. He held an impromptu press conference and called for a ban on LGBTQ propaganda and Budapest Pride. He said that they would be happy to help "remove LGBTQ colours" anywhere in Hungary and that they would not allow the propaganda these colours represent to be "imposed on us", MTI reports.

Vékony also explained that he painted the bench in the colours of the Hungarian flag, because if someone wanted to paint it again, it would be a violation of a national symbol, which is against the Criminal Code.

As the next step, someone wrapped the bench in transparent film and left a note that said: “we put the film on, ‘cause there be gays here”. Some have suggested that this may be a reference to the government's fine against the bookstore chain Líra for the incorrect display of a book in their youth section – as the book includes a gay character.

Based on the anti-LGBTQ+ law adopted by Parliament in 2021, such books should be distributed in closed packaging. MCC, a private educational insitution that has received significant state funding recently became a majority shareholder in the Libri group, a prominent player in the Hungarian book market, and shortly afterwards, books fitting the description in the law were packaged in transparent foil – just like the bench.

In the end, it was taken away

By early Friday afternoon, the bench had been removed from the square.

Krisztina Baranyi, the mayor of the 9th district told Telex that she was the one who requested that the employees of the municipality's compentent agency transport the bench to their premises, because it was already in a very bad condition from all the repainting, and it had also been damaged.

She said that although Amnesty International Hungary, which originally painted the bench in rainbow colours, and the municipality had intended to keep it in rainbow colours until the end of the month, they had not expected that Mi Hazánk would damage it in broad daylight.

According to Baranyi, the bench's condition meant that it was no longer fit for anyone to sit on, let alone convey any message.

The mayor said that the bench will now be repaired and sanded down, then put back in its place on Tompa Street and painted by the winner of a tender announced on Thursday. Baranyi said that it had become clear in recent days that many people would like to use the bench to convey a wide range of messages, and that they would like to keep this as an opportunity in the future as well.

The municipality is inviting applications from NGOs and foundations, and has stipulated that messages inciting hatred, violence against individuals or groups, threats, and messages inciting (even implicitly) violence will not be allowed.