Gay Parade Goes Ahead

Police Chief Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi said Monday that 12,000 policemen would be deployed to man the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade scheduled for this Friday.

Karadi told Israel Radio that his forces would need to receive reinforcements from elsewhere in the country, adding that resultant weakening of forces in other areas was part of the consideration in urging a cancellation of the march.

Israel's Police Chief said that although he respected the right any group's freedom of expression and its right to march, he advised against the Gay Pride Parade going ahead because the tremendous risk to public safety overrode this right.

"We had to weigh up freedom of expression on the one hand against human life on the other, but unfortunately (Attorney-General Menahem) Mazuz told us to find another alternative to canceling the march altogether," Karadi told Israel Radio.

Police were expected to hold emergency meetings early Monday morning with representatives of the Open House, which organizes the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, to try to reach an agreement on an alternative route for the march in light of the surprise decision by Mazuz on Sunday evening to deny police requests to suspend the march.