- Title: JERUSALEM: Gays in Jerusalem rally under tight security
- Date: 10th November 2006
- Summary: (BN08) JERUSALEM (NOVEMBER 10, 2006) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RIGHT-WING RELIGIOUS JEWS CONFRONTING GAYS AND LESBIANS WHO TRY TO HOLD AN ILLEGAL PRIDE PARADE VARIOUS OF RIGHT WING RELIGIOUS MEN SHOUTING AT GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS MAN SAYING TO LESBIAN WOMAN: ' YOU ARE UGLY, STUPID, AND SICK' VARIOUS OF POLICE DISBURSING RIGHT WING DEMONSTRATORS (SOUNDBITE) (English) RIGHT WING
- Embargoed: 25th November 2006 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAC9R2GIN6CNFHOY93AHOEF4EY3
- Story Text: Israeli police arrested some 30 pro-gay protesters who tried to march illegally in Jerusalem on Friday (November 10) as thousands gathered in a near-by stadium to hold an authorised gay pride rally that has sparked religious protests in recent weeks.
Gays, lesbians and civil rights activists flocked to the holy city of Jerusalem to attend a festival that was initially planned as a street parade in downtown Jerusalem but was moved into a closed stadium of the Hebrew University.
Violent riots by Jewish Orthodox who opposed the parade to take place in Jerusalem preceded the event. Ultra-Orthodox Jews had also threatened to disrupt the march through the holy city.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews view homosexuality as an abomination.
"If they want to march, they can go to Paris, they can go to Washington and can go anywhere, not Jerusalem," right wing activist Baruch Marzel told Reuters.
Several petitions were submitted to the Israeli Supreme Court against the plans to hold the parade in the city holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
But the reason for cancelling the parade and holding a rally in a closed place instead was made after the police said it needed to beef up forces to guard against threatened Palestinian attacks following a deadly Israeli army shelling attack in Gaza this week.
The police said it could not allocate forces to secure the event that provoked fierce religious objection.
Officials in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community said rabbis had agreed to the compromise and instructed their followers to halt nightly protests in religious neighbourhoods of the city against the parade.
There were a few minor scuffles between right-wing opponents of the event and activists elsewhere in the city but little violence, police said.
Police detained some 30 gay activists who tried to hold a street march in a public garden near the stadium, violating an agreement reached between the police and the 'Open House' - an organization representing the gay community which organised the rally.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 3,000 police were securing the event. Ultra-Orthodox Jews and other protesters would not be allowed in to the stadium, he added.
"In a society of democracy it is important that an event like this, the freedom of speech takes place. This event is important for one community but on the other hand did offend and does offend another community. We have to find the right level in between both of these communities," Rosenfeld told Reuters during the rally.
Police set up checkpoints along all routes to the stadium. Many roads were also blocked.
Outside the stadium police detained some religious protesters who tried to infiltrate the event.
Debate about the march had also exposed deep fissures in Israeli society, caught between its vocal religious community and a desire to be seen as progressive and "modern".
Gay pride festivals have been held each year in Jerusalem since 2001, but this year's was billed as being bigger and better, causing greater outrage than before.
Organisers say the event promotes understanding, tolerance and open-mindedness.
The festival had been scheduled for August but was postponed because of Israel's war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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