Sunday 2 August 2009

Vigil for TA attack held in Jerusalem

Jonathan Beck
The Jerusalem Post
August 2
Hundreds of people convened Sunday afternoon in Jerusalem's Kikar Zion to express solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) after two people were killed and more than a dozen injured on Saturday night.
Some 500 arrived to the square, carrying signs in with slogans including "Live and Let Love," "Why Kill?" and Tourism Ministry posters of Jerusalem on which the phrase "Senseless Hatred destroyed Jerusalem" was written in Hebrew. Some people waved flags with the rainbow colors symbolizing the gay community and others waved black flags.
News of the vigil spread by word of mouth, through phones and SMS messages.
Dina G., a Jerusalem resident who was present at the vigil, told The Jerusalem Post that the vigil was a "beautiful, soulful" event, with no displays of violence and minimal police presence. Apart from the mostly young people who were at the square, some older people arrived, as well as religious Israelis, she said.
Dina told the Post that the vigil was quiet, with people congregating to honor the dead and some holding up signs, but without shouting slogans.
In a similar event in Tel Aviv, MK Dov Khenin, of the Hadash party, said the murder Saturday was "a horrible reminder of the serious threats to the democratic spectrum of liberties. Again we learn that no man is an island and no place is a safe bubble.
"We will not ask for whom the alarm bell tolls today - it tolls for all of us," Khenin added.
Vigils were also held in Beersheba in the South and Carmiel in the North.
More about:
Eye witnesses - Forward - There were nowhere to run

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