Hundreds of police deployed to curb J'lem anti-gay pride parade riots - Haaretz

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Thu., March 12, 2009 Adar 16, 5769

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		Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators rioting in Jerusalem last week against the gay pride parade. (Tomer Applebaum / BauBau)

Last update - 00:00 06/11/2006

Hundreds of police deployed to curb J'lem anti-gay pride parade riots

By Amiram Barkat, Jonathan Lis and Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondents

Hundreds of police forces deployed in residential areas of Jerusalem on Monday as demonstrations against the upcoming gay pride parade erupted in the city's religious neighborhoods for a second week.

A taxi driver was lightly injured when his cab struck a trash receptacle rolled into the streets by ultra-Orthodox protesters. Police took over residential streets to force demonstrators to clear the roads and cease disturbances. Over the course of the evening, protests spilled over from the city's ultra-Orthodox streets into more mixed areas.

Early Monday evening, officers blocked hundreds of demonstrators marching from Sabbath Square to Jaffa Street. Police also dispersed dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters trying to block traffic on various streets in Rehavia.

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Police also arrested a protester marching with hundreds of demonstrators in Beit Shemesh, outside of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, near the entrance to the central city of Hadera, ultra-Orthodox demonstrators torched tires and hurled them onto the highway in an attempt to block traffic. They ceased protests when instructed to do so by their rabbi. Dozens more protesters also demonstrated Monday at the Kfar Hasidim junction.

Israel's chief rabbinate on Monday called Israel's homosexuals the "lowest of people," and urged the public to assemble for a country-wide prayer rally later this week as marchers gather in Jerusalem for the gay pride parade.

The two chief rabbis called an emergency meeting where they harshly attacked the organizers of the parade, scheduled for Friday, and called the planned event a "threatening plot."

"We were horrified to hear of the threatening plot that an abominated minority of our brothers is planning, convening to carry out abominations that make them the lowest of people," the rabbis wrote in a statement.

"Everyone from toddlers to the elderly will join in the streets and bitterly protest this awful abomination that is desecrating Israel's name throughout the nations," read the statement, calling on the public to oppose the event peacefully. "Of course they will do this [protest] in the appropriate way without violence or harm to property."

Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar resisted claims that the rabbis' message supports and even encourages the violent atmosphere that has permeated ultra-Orthodox streets in Jerusalem in recent days as protesters demonstrate against the parade .

Rabbi Amar told Army Radio on Monday, "the job of the rabbinate is to appease and connect the people, but it impossible to silence others in the name of holy appeasement."

Rabbi Amar said he would not criticize homosexual relations, as long as it is kept within the individual and not announced to the public.

"This is an individual issue that is kept private, and when it is opened to the public it gives a hard blow to education. This isn't an ordinary crime but a very severe outburst."

Police Chief: 12,000 officers to secure pride march
Israel Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi stated on Monday that 12,000 police, including most of the Border Patrol troops stationed in the West Bank, will be deployed to secure the gay pride parade to be held on Friday in Jerusalem.

Most of the police personnel will be deployed across Jerusalem, with the rest stationed at major junctions throughout the country to prevent protestors from burning tires and blocking roads.

On Sunday, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz turned down a police request to ban the gay pride parade because of threats of violence.

Instead he instructed police and gay activists to work toward a compromise for a "parade with a modest character," according to the capital's police commander, Ilan Franco.

The police had asked Mazuz to prohibit the event, arguing that there were serious concerns of life-threatening violence by ultra-Orthodox demonstrators.

Ultra-Orthodox youth have rioted in Jerusalem nearly every night during the past week, setting garbage cans ablaze, blocking roads and attacking police officers in a show of force aimed at blocking the parade.

According to Jerusalem police, six policemen have been hurt in the clashes over the past week and 60 rioters have been arrested.

Over the weekend, the disturbances spread outside Jerusalem to the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, where rioters blocked one of the country's main highways with burning tires.

Nevertheless, Mazuz argued that the parade constitutes a manifestation of the right of free expression and of the legitimate right of homosexual people to demonstrate, and he directed the police to divert the route of the march away from ultra-Orthodox and Muslim neighborhoods.

The gay pride parade in Jerusalem had been approved by the Supreme Court months ago.

Following a meeting of all senior police officers on Sunday, an announcement was made that the danger of violence was too great to allow the event to take place, but that Mazuz was entitled to make the final decision.

"We understand that the potential danger to life and bloodshed is greater than that to free speech," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

At last year's march, an ultra-Orthodox man stabbed and wounded three participants.

After the attorney general made his decision public, a spokesperson for the Open House for Pride and Tolerance, which is organizing the event, welcomed his stance and called it a boost to democracy and freedom of expression in Israel.

A gay activist said that the parade route would be discussed with the police and indicated that a police proposal to hold a rally in a park instead of marching through the center of the city might be acceptable.

However, the debate over holding a parade in Jerusalem has also sparked some dissent among the gay community, some of whose members raised the possibility of canceling the event in return for something else: Jerusalem city council member Sa'ar Netanel and Itay Pinkas, the advisor to the mayor of Tel Aviv on gay affairs, said they would consider calling off the parade if ultra-Orthodox parties would agree to abstain in Knesset votes on a bill on common-law marriage.

"The parade is a means and not an end," Pinkas said. "All they [ultra-Orthodox] need to do, when the civil-law marriage bill is read at the Knesset, is to say, 'We are not there, this doesn't concern us, we'll allow [the law] to be passed.'"

Meanwhile, the High Court of Justice will deliberate on Monday on a petition filed by an ultra-Orthodox man, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, against the Jerusalem Police, the Open House, and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, demanding that the authorization for the parade be rescinded.

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1.	Instead of protecting Israel, look what our police have to do.	14:19	\|	Dan	06/11/06

2.	Parade of Pride	14:22	\|	Brod	06/11/06

3.	State Disgrace	14:34	\|	dg	06/11/06

4.	Taking advantage of the peace and quiet	14:42	\|	Ari	06/11/06

5.	No respect	14:43	\|	Dr D	06/11/06

6.	Comforting God: In Wrath Remember Mercy	14:50	\|	JewishHeart	06/11/06

7.	Gay Pride	14:56	\|	Ari	06/11/06

8.	Marches: Temple Mount and Gays	15:03	\|	Yiddle	06/11/06

9.	12.000 men for the parade, hmm…	15:06	\|	Jonathan S	06/11/06

10.	alternative life style is fine. But parade for shock value awful!	15:17	\|	Avi	06/11/06

11.	Does the will ofthe few sickos outweigh the overwhelming ???	15:23	\|	Harry	06/11/06

12.	Gay Demonstration	15:25	\|	Avi Yerushalmi	06/11/06

13.	Jewish pride - chanuka on the mount	15:32	\|	Aron	06/11/06

14.	Yiddle (Post No. 8)	15:45	\|	Johnny Weintraub	06/11/06

15.	Parade of rebellion	16:05	\|	Jon	06/11/06

16.	to Ari, a mere cub	16:27	\|	sp	06/11/06

17.	The will of the majority..............	16:31	\|	Avraham	06/11/06

18.	ban the instigators	16:35	\|	eliezer	06/11/06

19.	Mazuz parading as a judge	17:07	\|	tz	06/11/06

20.	Dan from London	17:21	\|	Stephen Murray	06/11/06

21.	12000	17:29	\|	Dodi	06/11/06

22.	no more closets	17:54	\|	adrian	06/11/06

23.	Re:Jewish pride - chanuka on the mount	17:58	\|	Yochanan	06/11/06

24.	true faith in god	18:07	\|	aeli	06/11/06

25.	Gay ultraorthodox, speak up !	18:12	\|	Raffaele	06/11/06

26.	jerusalem (and israel) is not only for the religious	18:33	\|	gabor	06/11/06

27.	Haredim should shut up and behave	18:50	\|	McKenna	06/11/06

28.	To Sp	18:54	\|	Ari	06/11/06

29.	12000 WOW	18:59	\|	SAM	06/11/06

30.	Free people must reject violent religions	19:37	\|	AV	06/11/06

31.	No. 20 - Stephen Murray. No. They are just exhibitionists.	19:39	\|	Dan	06/11/06

32.	#23 Proud to be jew and straight	19:40	\|	Aron	06/11/06

33.	Does everybody forget that Reform Judaism embraces homosexuality?	19:41	\|	AV	06/11/06

34.	Bias	19:51	\|	Yochanan	06/11/06

35.	YOCHANAN	19:59	\|	Jo Jo	06/11/06

36.	What is different from Islam?	20:01	\|	DB	06/11/06

37.	Gay Pride Parade	20:07	\|	Leo Rennert	06/11/06

38.	SICK MEDENA!!	20:13	\|	KACH 613	06/11/06

39.	gabor you are wrong	20:13	\|	Jon	06/11/06

40.	The next War	20:29	\|	Dror	06/11/06

41.	7 times around the Old City walls	20:40	\|	AL	06/11/06

42.	Police	20:49	\|	Eliezer	06/11/06

43.	gabor	21:05	\|	Nina	06/11/06

44.	KACK 613: `mentally ill` ?	21:33	\|	Sweety	06/11/06

45.	The Torah forbids idolatry: the Torah allows homosexuality.	21:34	\|	AV	06/11/06

46.	Chief rabbis urge country-wide protests	21:36	\|	Adonay who blof	06/11/06

47.	To Harry and other Haredi latent homosexuals	21:43	\|	Danny	06/11/06

48.	Gay parade	21:49	\|	David A.	06/11/06

49.	Gay ` pride` parade	22:02	\|	David	06/11/06

50.	does democracy mean something for you?	22:03	\|	Jose	06/11/06

51.	Why don`t chief rabbis protest human trafficking?	22:16	\|	M	06/11/06

52.	RISE UP!	22:19	\|	chaim olam	06/11/06

53.	No.19 - WELL SAID...!!!!	22:24	\|	Shalom	06/11/06

54.	Yochanan #c23	22:53	\|	Philippe	06/11/06

55.	Shame on you Orthodox	22:59	\|	Tarek	06/11/06

56.	Follow the Torah	23:29	\|	Barry Roffman	06/11/06

57.	Haredim are "Sodomites"	23:40	\|	AV	06/11/06

58.	embarrassed by the charedim	23:41	\|	benjamin	06/11/06

59.	Even Beirut has gay pride parades	23:43	\|	Maria	06/11/06

60.	God does not change	23:58	\|	Dan	06/11/06

61.	Religious zealotry was the cause of destruction of 2nd Temple	00:05	\|	Jake	07/11/06

62.	Response to Gays	00:07	\|	kyle	07/11/06

63.	Tarek, mind your own business	00:13	\|	Jake	07/11/06

64.	Shame	00:15	\|	Amer Nassar	07/11/06

65.	the Ultra Orthodox Demonstrators	00:21	\|	Mordechai	07/11/06

66.	Gaypride	00:26	\|	Maya Roth	07/11/06

67.	Jon, Israel IS just of the countries, sorry	00:35	\|	Gabor	07/11/06

68.	Nina, most hungarian jewish youth dont turn to judaism	00:39	\|	gabor	07/11/06

69.	Gays	00:44	\|	Sam	07/11/06

70.	Maria, Beirut does not appear on list of gay pride parades	00:49	\|	Jake	07/11/06

71.	#66 Mordechai- you are so correct	00:52	\|	Danny	07/11/06

72.	petition filed by an ultra-Orthodox man, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav,	01:12	\|	mendle	07/11/06

73.	Exile	01:46	\|	Qoheleth	07/11/06

74.	Correcting a quote - PART 1	01:59	\|	Rob	07/11/06

75.	i wish....	02:07	\|	joel	07/11/06

76.	kach 613	02:19	\|	justin-the gay jew	07/11/06

77.	Shame on the isreal supream courts	02:27	\|	Jimmy Whitlock	07/11/06

78.	Ari in Jerusalem	02:36	\|	rich	07/11/06

79.	Avi Yerusalmi	02:41	\|	rich	07/11/06

80.	Mordechai	02:44	\|	rich	07/11/06

81.	#61 Kyle - If it is to be...be it NOT from the hand of man,	02:57	\|	Leave it to God	07/11/06

82.	Hey pals, we are in 2006	03:12	\|	CC	07/11/06

83.	Again to AV	03:46	\|	Pierre	07/11/06

84.	Jewish State	03:47	\|	Aviv	07/11/06

85.	mordechai # 64	04:03	\|	Ochsner	07/11/06

86.	Chaim #52 I Will rise up...on my knees in prayer with tears	04:27	\|	Virginia	07/11/06

87.	Rich	05:08	\|	Mordechai	07/11/06

88.	wrong	05:33	\|	Moishe	07/11/06

89.	let the gays march in tel aviv but not jerusalem	05:41	\|	daniel	07/11/06

90.	no gay parade in jerusalem	05:42	\|	daniel	07/11/06

91.	The Orthodox are in bed with the Islamists over the gay parade.	05:57	\|	Tarek	07/11/06

92.	Chanukah time!!!	06:10	\|	Matityahu Chashmonai	07/11/06

93.	Haredim Hypocrits	06:22	\|	Saar	07/11/06

94.	Gay fag parade	06:29	\|	Jeff	07/11/06

95.	to Dr D	07:35	\|	renee	07/11/06

96.	to dan	07:40	\|	renee	07/11/06

97.	to Jon	07:47	\|	renee	07/11/06

98.	to Avraham	07:50	\|	renee	07/11/06

99.	GAY PRORADE	17:29	\|	DAN	07/11/06

100.	Almighty God	03:44	\|	Noel Dixon	08/11/06

101.	86: And as long as you`re on your knees...	08:57	\|	David Teich	09/11/06

102.	Jews & Gays	05:11	\|	Frank Ventgen	11/11/06

103.	Since the beginning of time	06:16	\|	Susan Smith	12/11/06

104.	Homosexual Parade In Jerusalem	02:39	\|	Moo Borskee	18/02/07

105.	The History...........	02:29	\|	Barak Rabinowitz	22/02/09

106.	Response to #104	02:33	\|	Tzipi Livni	22/02/09

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