Pride event cancelled in Israel over threats of violence
A Pride event in the city of Beersheba has been cancelled after security concerns were raised.
The cancellation came after the Supreme Court of Israel restricted the route of the Pride event after concerns were raised of a threat of violence.
Organisers of the city’s Pride parade hoped to march yesterday down a major road.
But police intelligence suggested that there was a real threat of violence.
Police said there was a threat of life-threatening violence at the event, and that participants might be forced to use violent measures to protect themselves.
The Supreme Court had suggested that a different route could be used for the event, but organisers declined, saying they should not have to “hide” on a backstreet.
A 16-year-old, Shira Banki was killed and five others were wounded last July, after an ultra-Orthadox Jewish man Yishai Schlissel went on a stabbing spree during Jerusalem’s Pride parade last year.
It later emerged he had been released from prison just three weeks before the attack, after serving a sentence for attacking the same parade in 2005, that Schlissel had made public threats to attack the Parade, and that police were aware of his threats in advance.
Schlissel was jailed for life plus 31 years for the attack.
