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Tens of thousands party for Gay Pride in Tel Aviv
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Participants take part in the annual Gay Pride parade in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, on June 9, 2017. (AFP/Jack Guez)
T
ens of thousands of revelers from Israel and abroad packed the streets of Tel Aviv on Friday for the city's annual Gay Pride march, billed as the Middle East's biggest.
Police said they were expecting around 100,000 people, while organisers put the figure at closer to 200,000, with an estimated 30,000 of them from overseas.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that security forces would be keeping a close eye on the event.
"Hundreds of police have closed off the area and are carrying out security measures," he told AFP. "Police units and border police units and undercover units are in the area."
A 2015 Gay Pride parade in conservative Jerusalem ended in tragedy when an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man got among the marchers, stabbing a 16-year-old girl to death and wounding five others.
This year's Tel Aviv festival is themed in support of bisexuality under the slogan "Let it B," organisers said on their website.
"Bisexuals tend to be more prone to suicide and risk behaviour than gay men and lesbians," they said.
The festival kicked off on Friday morning in a central Tel Aviv park with music, dancing and performers, before the mostly young revellers set off for the Mediterranean seafront.
About 10 floats took part in the beachside procession, one of them depicting an ancient warship built by staff at the British embassy in Tel Aviv, the embassy website said.
Read also: Bangkok to hold first gay pride parade in 11 years
Britain's ambassador to Israel is David Quarrey, an openly gay man.
Israel regularly publicises its vibrant gay scene, often contrasting it with neighbouring Arab countries where homosexuality is illegal.
Critics accuse it of trying to use gay rights to downplay, or "pinkwash", military abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories.
At Friday's celebration, Mattan Segev, 36, said he had been attending Gay Pride events since he came out at the age of 13.
"There is a natural contrast between what is going on in Israel and what is going on in Muslim countries around us but I don’t see why we equate ourselves with them," Segev said.
"Israel tries to see itself as part of the European countries or the West. If you equate us to the West, the situation looks very different," he added.
Same sex marriage is not technically illegal in Israel but there is no institution permitted to perform it and couples must travel abroad to wed.
Maya Gatman, 17, said she had been coming to the Gay Pride parade for five years and it was an "amazing atmosphere."
Eitan Schwartz, CEO of Tel Aviv Global -- part of the mayor's office -- said the event, funded by the municipality, was part of a month of events supporting Gay Pride.
"Gay tourism is one of the pillars of our economy," he said.
