July 5 (Bloomberg) -- Hungarian police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters hurling rocks and other objects at the city's annual Gay Pride Parade. At least 49 people were arrested.

Parade participants marched along Andrassy ut, the main boulevard in downtown Budapest, flanked on one side by police trucks and on the other by hundreds of officers dressed in body armor. Authorities fenced off both sides of the road, making it impossible for anyone to enter or exit the parade route once it had started. Helicopters hovered overhead throughout the parade.

Protesters, some waving the red-and-white striped flag that has been adopted by nationalist groups, shouted out anti-gay epithets and hurled eggs, firecrackers and insults at parade participants. Laszlo Toroczkai, head of the nationalist youth group 64 Counties, called the parade a provocation against Hungarian culture.

``We don't need to see this kind of thing,'' he said in a telephone interview before the parade. ``No one does.''

Anti-gay protesters tore down the fences surrounding Budapest's Heroes Square, near the parade's endpoint, and were quickly dispersed by police after a brief scuffle, police spokeswoman Eva Tafferner said in a telephone interview. She declined to say how many police were on the scene, or how much it cost to protect the parade.

The situation had ``calmed down'' by about 6 p.m., she said.

Parade-goers carried rainbow-colored umbrellas and signs carrying slogans such as ``Jesus taught us to love. Why do you hate?'' The truck at the head of the parade carried two men who acted out a mock marriage with a female officiant. Their black suits became caked with egg yolks as the parade progressed.

Gabor Szetey, a former state secretary in Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's cabinet who announced he was gay one year ago, said Gay Pride Day was no different from Hungarian Pride Day in an address to parade participants.

``Hungary, which is a European democracy, must accept people who are different,'' he said. ``We can't choose whether we are gay, Roma or Jewish, but we can control our own destinies.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Kuli in Budapest at akuli@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 5, 2008 13:54 EDT