Jerusalem gay parade

Israeli police detained an Orthodox Jewish man carrying a small home-made bomb in Jerusalem yesterday, as demonstrators marched in support of gay rights and defied threats of violence from religious protesters. "Police stopped a 32-year-old religious...

Israeli police detained an Orthodox Jewish man carrying a small home-made bomb in Jerusalem yesterday, as demonstrators marched in support of gay rights and defied threats of violence from religious protesters.

"Police stopped a 32-year-old religious Jew who was carrying a home-made explosive device," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said of the arrest just before an annual gay pride parade.

The event ended without major incident but in all 23 people were arrested in connection with protests against the march.

About 7,000 police officers were deployed inside and around Jerusalem to protect the marchers about 2,000 of them by police estimates - after threats from religious Jews, who take exception to the event being held in a city they hold sacred.

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