JERUSALEM-GAY PRIDE/ATTACK-UPDATE Religious assailant stabs six at Jerusalem Gay Pride march
Record ID:
145644
JERUSALEM-GAY PRIDE/ATTACK-UPDATE Religious assailant stabs six at Jerusalem Gay Pride march
- Title: JERUSALEM-GAY PRIDE/ATTACK-UPDATE Religious assailant stabs six at Jerusalem Gay Pride march
- Date: 30th July 2015
- Summary: JERUSALEM (JULY 30, 2015) (REUTERS) POLICE AND MEDICAL CREW AT SCENE VARIOUS OF MEDICAL CREW MOVING WOUNDED FROM SCENE MEDICAL CREW NEAR AMBULANCE VARIOUS OF POLICE AND MEDICAL CREW STANDING NEAR WOUNDED PEOPLE AMBULANCE LEAVING SCENE
- Embargoed: 14th August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Jerusalem
- City:
- Country: Israel
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAB042P1EZUJVRPQ1I8PTH6SURN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: An Orthodox Jewish assailant stabbed and wounded six participants, two of them seriously, in the annual Gay Pride march in Jerusalem on Thursday (July 30), police and medics said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned "as a most serious incident" what was the worst attack in years on the event in Jerusalem, a city where the religious population is more prominent than in other parts of Israel.
Marchers numbering about 5,000 and waving banners were heading down an avenue when an ultra-Orthodox man jumped into the crowd apparently from a supermarket, and plunged a knife into some of them, witnesses said.
Police said they arrested the suspected perpetrator an ultra-Orthodox man. Spokeswoman Luba Samri said he was the same assailant jailed for the stabbing of three marchers at a similar Jerusalem event in 2005. Israeli media said the suspect had been released from prison several weeks ago.
Police and medics said the assailant had wounded six people. Two were taken to hospital in serious condition, including a woman in her 20s, a doctor at Hadassah Medical Centre, where the victims were being treated, said.
The march, which attracts thousands of participants, has long been a focus of tension between Israel's predominantly secular majority and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority, who object to public displays of homosexuality.
Many devout Jews, Muslims and Christians criticise homosexuality as an abomination of their beliefs.
While the event takes place annually in the more gay friendly business hub of Tel Aviv without incident, in Jerusalem, where the religious population is more prominent, violence has erupted in the past.
The march is held in the largely Jewish side of the divided city. Palestinians predominate in occupied East Jerusalem.
Oded Fried, the head of a leading gay rights group, said the attack would not deter the movement.
Gay marriages performed inside Israel are not recognised by the authorities.
Netanyahu said in a statement: "This is a most serious incident. We will prosecute those responsible to the full extent of the law. Freedom of individual choice is a basic value in Israel." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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