Participants
dancing and singing through the streets of Jerusalem during the holy city's
annual gay pride parade were left shrieking in pain and panic Thursday night,
as an anti-gay extremist lunged into a group leading the march and stabbed six
people.
Yishai
Schlissel, who was arrested at the scene for Thursday's attack, had been
released from prison just three weeks ago, after serving a sentence for
stabbing several people at the parade in 2005.
The
Gay Pride Parade was proceeding as planned with party music, Israeli flags and
rainbow-clad marchers wending their way through central Jerusalem's barricaded
streets, under a heavy police presence.
An
Associated Press photographer witnessed the attacker enter the throng of people
with his hand in his coat and within seconds raise a knife and begin stabbing
people in the back. Police pounced on him and arrested him.
The
parade continued after the wounded were taken for treatment, but in a far more
somber atmosphere. Media reported that thousands of Jerusalem residents who had
not initially participated in the parade joined in after the attack in
solidarity.
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