Marchers, ministers, MKs set off along Jerusalem Pride Parade route

After threats, arrests and amid a heavy police presence, participants and a handful of government ministers and MKs begin marching in the annual Jerusalem Pride Parade.

Social Equality Minister Merav Cohen, Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli, Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai are all slated to be taking part. MKs Gilad Kariv, Eli Avidar, Yorai Lahav Hertzano, Naama Lazimi, Eitan Ginzburg and others are also marching.

At 7 p.m. the march is slated to end in a concert and party in the city’s Independence Park, where Uri Banki, the father of Shira Banki, who was murdered at the parade in 2015 by a religious extremist, is slated to speak.