Jerusalem gay parade ends peacefully

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A gay pride parade in Jerusalem ended peacefully on Thursday but the planned opening of a municipal parking lot on the Jewish sabbath will test the delicate balance between religious and secular Jews in the city.
The annual parade has touched off anti-gay protests by ultra-Orthodox Jews in the holy city in the past. But this year they limited their protest to holding street prayers wearing brown sacks in line with a biblical mourning tradition.
Police deployed some 1,500 officers -- albeit far fewer than in recent years -- along the route, which avoided neighborhoods where traditionally black-garbed ultra-Orthodox Jews live.
Many devout Jews, Muslims and Christians view homosexuality as an abomination. In 2005, an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed and wounded three participants in the gay march. He is serving a 12-year sentence.
Amit Lev, a spokesman for the gay rights group behind the parade, said organizers had negotiated with ultra-Orthodox leaders in Jerusalem after "long years of silence" between the two communities.
"We`ve agreed that violence doesn`t serve any of us or any of our goals," he said.
But tensions have been stirred in the city over plans by Jerusalem`s Israeli mayor, Nir Barkat, to reopen a public parking lot on Saturday, a move that could draw more traffic into the city on the Jewish sabbath.
Jewish religious law bans travel on the sabbath, and Jerusalem`s ultra-Orthodox community has negotiated with city authorities arrangements that limit or ban traffic in their neighborhoods on Saturdays.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews held stone-throwing protests three weeks ago when the municipal parking lot was last opened on a Saturday and authorities fear a repeat of the violence this weekend.
(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon, Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Michael Roddy)
Original article