Sziget Festival organisers say Orban pressure has eased

Sziget Festival organisers in Budapest said this year's event ran without the political “headwinds” they felt under Viktor Orban's government, months after Peter Magyar won April's election and ended Orban's 16 years in power.

The festival, held on a Danube island known as the “Island of Freedom”, has long promoted openness, diversity and self-expression. Organisers said ministers under the new government consulted them on transport and healthcare and visited the grounds.

Tamas Kadar, who heads the organisation behind Sziget, told AFP the festival could do its work without resistance from the government. He said values central to Sziget had made it a target under Orban and that the festival received no support in the past decade, including after Covid forced it to skip two years.

Organisers said attendance at the week-long festival was about 350,000, down from about 400,000 in recent times. They blamed a scorching heatwave as one reason for the drop. The line-up included Twenty One Pilots, Florence + the Machine, Lewis Capaldi and Sombr.

The festival again included advocacy venues, including for LGBTQ rights. Kadar said a requirement for ID checks at the Magic Mirror venue for some events, introduced after a 2021 anti-LGBTQ law, ended this year.

Kadar also said tensions peaked last year when Orban's government prevented Irish rap group Kneecap from performing at Sziget and imposed a three-year entry ban after accusing it of “antisemitic hate speech”.

Ruling Tisza party lawmaker Ildiko Eva Sopov said the new government would not bring politics and ideology into areas where the state had no role. Some festival-goers told AFP they welcomed the atmosphere, while others said they were less interested in politics after the change of government.