Under unprecedented security, capital gears up for gay pride march
Some 2,000 police expected to keep eye on parade through central Jerusalem, a year after annual event was scene of deadly stabbing
Thousands of people are expected to march through central Jerusalem Thursday afternoon under the banner of LGBT pride, but also under the watchful eye of some 2,000 police on hand to secure the highly charged march, a year after it was beset by deadly violence.
Regular police, border police gendarmes and plainclothes cops will be on hand to keep order at the city’s 15th annual pride parade, which is being dedicated to the memory of Shira Banki, the 16-year-old girl who was murdered by anti-gay religious extremist Yishai Schlissel during last year’s parade.
Six other marchers were wounded in the stabbing attack.
Banki’s parents have called on the public to attend the parade in a show of force against the violence that killed their daughter.
Safety fears were highlighted Wednesday when police detained Schlissel’s brother Michael on what it said was actionable intelligence that he planned to follow up his brother’s attack with one of his own.
Michael Schlissel has denied the allegations.
His mother and four other brothers were also detained briefly, then told they were banned from the city until Friday.
A second person was arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of planning to attack parade-goers. The suspect, who has not been identified, will be brought to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court for a remand hearing on Thursday afternoon, police said.
Police also detained on Wednesday night four women in their 30s for spray-painting graffiti along the parade route in support of the march. The women confessed and were released home.
“The pride parade will proceed this year as usual, and anyone attempting to disrupt the march will be dealt with firmly,” Jerusalem District Police Commander Yoram Halevi said.
The march comes against the backdrop of swirling controversies over prominent religious figures linked to the Israel Defense Forces making anti-gay comments. In an interview published Wednesday, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said he wouldn’t march in the parade out of respect for the city’s religious community, which he said was offended by the display of gay pride. The decision drew condemnation from politicians and others.
Under warm and sunny skies, with a high of 31º Celsius (88º Fahrenheit) in the afternoon hours, the march is expected to draw some 5,000 participants.
Parade-goers will begin congregating at Liberty Bell Park from 4:15 p.m. At 5:45, the march will begin, heading down Keren Hayesod and King George street, turning onto Meir Shaham, Rabbi Akiva and Hillel streets, then concluding at Independence Park.
Organizers have asked participants to bring flowers that they can place at the site on Keren Hayesod Street where Banki was killed.
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The concluding event, set for 7:45 p.m., will take place at Independence Park.
The parade is likely to snarl downtown traffic for hours. Several major arteries through the capital’s center will be shut to traffic starting at 2:30 p.m., including the parade route from Keren Hayesod through King George and on to Hillel. Many key streets leading to the parade route will also close at that hour, including Agron and the southern section of Keren Hayesod.
Security fears
Security officials were criticized in 2015 for failing to keep Schlissel away from the parade despite the fact that he had just been released from jail for a similar though nonfatal attack against gay pride marchers in 2005 in which he stabbed three people.
In response, police have deployed unprecedented security measures for this year’s march. Participants cannot join or leave the parade along the route, organizers have said, but only at the starting location in Liberty Bell Park and at Paris Square, where police will be carrying out security checks on every participant.
No firearms will be allowed in the parade, police said.
A protest against the march by the ultra-nationalist Lehava organization will take place some distance from the march’s route, outside a police cordon.
Several known anti-gay activists received calls from police officers Wednesday warning them to stay away from the march or telling them they were banned from the city for the day.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel condemned the calls and the ban placed on Yishai Schlissel’s family.
“Banning the Schlissel family from Jerusalem and making warning calls and excluding activists who oppose the gay pride parade is a violation of human rights and abuse of police authority,” the group said in a tweet.
Schlissel’s father, however, seemed to support the move.
“I trust the police to do everything that needs to be done,” he told the Walla news site, “I wish they had done more last year and then perhaps the entire business would have been prevented.”
Hurt feelings
The march has been at the center of two public controversies this week.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, a longtime supporter of the capital’s Open House gay community center, announced in a newspaper interview published Wednesday that he would not participate in the march so as not to offend Jerusalem’s religious communities.
“It is their right to march. The city of Jerusalem, myself and the police will do everything possible to allow them to enjoy that right,” Barkat told the Yedioth Ahronoth daily. “But they must know that it offends others. Tolerance means not only permitting people to march but also to find the way for them to do so without hurting the sensibilities or the feelings of others.”
He added: “Jerusalem has a large population that has a hard time with the parade. As mayor I represent everyone. The LGBT community needs to be considered, just as the LGBT community needs to be considerate of the Haredi and religious community.”
The decision drew opprobrium from a number of politicians, including MK Merav Michaeli (Zionist Union) who accused Barkat of siding with Banki’s killer over the slain teen.
Barkat responded to the criticism by pointing to the city’s support for Open House and other LGBT activities, and said he would lay a wreath at the spot where Banki was killed Thursday.
The controversy came on the heels of another scandal involving Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, head of a prominent military preparatory academy, who called gays “deviants” in a conference with educators last week.
His comments have been condemned by many, from former students to the prime minister, and Barkat joined the chorus, calling the remarks “unneeded” and “hurtful to a large community.”