Hungary's president has signed a law proposed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ruling party that will ban LGBTQ+ communities from holding their annual Pride march, defying criticism by human rights organisations that it restricts freedom of assembly.

Protests erupted in Hungary’s capital, Budapest, after the Eastern European nation’s parliament passed a law banning Pride events and allowing law enforcement to use facial recognition software to track people who attend such events.

The law, supported by Orbán’s Fidesz party and their minority coalition partner the Christian Democrats, was pushed through parliament in an accelerated procedure after being submitted only a day earlier.