Thousands expected at Haifa’s Pride Parade

The northern city of Haifa is set to hold its annual Gay Pride Parade on Friday morning, the culmination of a week of events organized by the local gay community.

This is the eleventh time Haifa has held a Pride Parade. The theme this year is “We are Haifa.” It is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at Carmelia Junction. The march will end in the city’s well-known Gan Ha’em park where entertainment and celebrations are expected to continue until 5 p.m.

Organizers say the goal of the march is “to reflect the uniqueness of the gay community in a city that includes members of different communities, religions and cultures.”

People from a wide range of backgrounds are expected to attend, including Arabs, members of the Ethiopian community and immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Haifa mayor, Yona Yahav said on Thursday that “the Pride Parade in Haifa is a demonstration of joy, in which we celebrate our shared existence and the importance as a society to accept each other in Haifa’s spirit of tolerance.”

Yossi Shalom, who holds the gay community portfolio in the municipality, said, “The Gay Pride Parade in Haifa is a demonstration of solidarity that unifies religious and secular Jews and Arabs, new immigrants and veterans.”

Last year some 4,000 people marched in Haifa in celebration of the LGBTQ community.

At the end of last year’s parade, while giving a speech, Yahav was assaulted by an environmental activist over pollution concerns in the city.

A week ago some 3,500 people attended the first-ever Gay Pride parade in the southern city of Beersheba.

Two ultra-Orthodox men were arrested nearby. One was found armed with a knife in the vicinity of the parade and the second had attempted to forcibly enter the procession.

According to the Walla news website, the two were later released.

Earlier this month over 200,000 people attended Tel Aviv’s Gay Pride Parade, including an estimated 30,000 people who came from abroad to take part.

Two years ago, Jerusalem teen Shira Banki was killed and five people were injured by a Jewish religious extremist armed with a knife at a pride parade in central Jerusalem.