Pride parade: Police readying for 'emergency situation'
Unprecedented preparations take place across country ahead of next week's gay pride parade. Police chief orders mass deployment of policemen, declares 'emergency situation'
Police Chief Moshe Karadi held a meeting at his office Tuesday to discuss preparations ahead of the parade. The commander of the Jerusalem district, Major General Ilan Franco, also attended the meeting.
Due to fears that the parade will provoke violent incidents, Karadi instructed that the activity in districts throughout the country be boosted and that unites will be reinforced.
Ynet reported Monday that cows, horses and donkeys are expected to march in Jerusalem next week, as part of a protest move planned by right-wing activists in response to the upcoming gay pride parade.
The beast parade will be combined with a mass prayer, which will include citing Psalms and asking for atonement in an aim "to explain to God that the desecration of Jerusalem is being protested."
Requests to hold the unusual parades have already been submitted to the police, which are examining it.
The gay pride parade is expected to take place in Jerusalem next week, and tensions in the city are high. Ynet has learned that in a meeting held in the capital on Monday by representatives of religious and right-wing groups, it was decided to ask to hold two demonstrations.
In a demonstration which will be held a day before the gay pride parade, right-wing activists seek to parade animals on the same route where the gay parade is to be held, with hundreds of their supporters accompanying them.
Simultaneously, right-wing activists are preparing to hold a parade which will in fact be a mass prayer, in which there will be separation between men and women. The participants plan to cite Psalms, ask for atonement and pray Mincha (the afternoon prayer).
