The police announced yesterday that it planned to deploy unprecedented security measures to ensure that the WorldPride Gay Parade in Jerusalem, scheduled for 10 November, will pass without incident.

A total of 8,000 police officers, including all 2,000 Border Police assigned to the West Bank, will be deployed in the operation, in part because of concerns that there will be incidents throughout the country protesting the parade.

The police has collected a long list of threats, involving ultra-Orthodox and extreme right wing demonstrators, who may be planning to attack those taking part in the parade. Among the possible threats are plans to throw eggs and razor blades at the marchers from rooftops; plans to flood the roads by blocking the sewage grills; and there are fears that there will be serious attempts to block major intersections throughout the country.

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The police are particularly concerned by the calls of rabbis for a holy war against the police and the marchers.

There is also information that there may be attempts to carry out fake terrorist bombings using firecrackers, and thus divert the attention of large police forces providing security to the participants in the march.

Yesterday, a meeting of senior police officers, in which an initial assessment of available intelligence on likely disturbances was made, ended with Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi announcing that he would personally command the deployment of the forces in the capital.

Karadi said the police would act to safeguard democracy and freedom of expression, as well as to preserve public order and protect lives.

During last year's Gay Pride Parade, three participants were stabbed by a rampaging Haredi protester.

Yesterday, police commanders on a national level were instructed to keep close tabs of the situation in their areas of command as a result of concerns that there will be disturbances throughout the country.

On the day of the parade, the police is planning to declare maximum readiness, and all officers on leave will be recalled to duty.

The police forces will be deployed in a manner similar to the weeks that preceded the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, and there will be training and refresher courses in the use of water cannons, mounted forces and other means for the dispersal of mass demonstrations. Officers will also undergo psychological training to be better prepared to deal with the expected confrontations with the demonstrators.

The police is also evaluating the possibility that some areas in the country will require further reinforcements.

Karadi considers the situation to be serious enough to warrant the cancellation of a scheduled trip to Turkey, where he was meant to sign an agreement of cooperation with the Turkish police.

However, an officer at the National Police Headquarters expressed criticism of the publicized preparations, arguing that this is meant to prepare the ground for an eventual cancellation of the parade.

The criticism was rejected by a police spokesman who added that the "parade has still not been authorized by the police."

Yoav Stern adds: For the first time, Muslim leaders took a public stance against WorldPride in Jerusalem. MK Abas Zkoor (United Arab List-Ta'al), a representative of the Islamic movement, yesterday called on the Jerusalem mufti to take a stand against holding the event. "Everyone is free to do as they wish in their own home, but holding such a parade in a holy area crosses all the lines in the sand," Zkoor told Haaretz.