Thousands march for Gay Pride in Tel Aviv

[oberliner]

TEL AVIV (AFP) - Thousands of gays, lesbians and activists marched and partied at the annual Gay Pride parade and beach bash on Friday hosted by Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv.

Participants walked and danced in a carnival atmosphere from the central Rabin Square to a strip of downtown Mediterranean beach to hear DJs, musical acts, performance artists and local singing stars.

Police put attendance at 10,000 and reported no serious incident, despite threatened disruption from right-wing and religious opponents of the parade, which has been organised in liberal Tel Aviv by its municipality since 1998.

Mike Hamel, who chairs the national association of gay, lesbian and bi community in Israel, hoped that tens of thousands would attend what he called "sand, sun and lots of fun" twined to a meaningful political rally.

"It's an empowering experience. It's uplifting and at the same time it's meaningful. It's not just a party. It's not just music and fun. It's a political rally talking about human rights," he told AFP.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070608/twl-lifestyle-israel-gay-3cd7efd.html