An Orthodox Jewish assailant (C) stabs participants at an annual gay pride parade, wounding six, in Jerusalem on Thursday, 30 July 2015, police and witnesses saidReuters An Orthodox Jewish assailant (C) stabs participants at an annual gay pride parade, wounding six, in Jerusalem on Thursday, police and witnesses said July 30, 2015.Reuters People disarm an Orthodox Jewish assailant shortly after he stabbed participants at the annual Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem July 30, 2015.Reuters People detain after disarming an Orthodox Jewish assailant, after he stabbed and injured six participants of an annual gay pride parade in Jerusalem on ThursdayReuters Participants of a gay pride parade in Jerusalem treat an injured person after an Orthodox Jewish assailant stabbed and injured six participants in the annual march in Jerusalem on Thursday, police and witnesses said July 30, 2015.Reuters
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man attacked people participating in the Jerusalem Gay Pride march on Thursday, stabbing and injuring at least six people.
The same man had been arrested 10 years ago for a similar attack on gay pride marchers.
Yishai Schlissel attacked the Jerusalem Gay Pride marchers just weeks after his release from prison after serving a 10-year jail term for a similar attack in 2005 when he had stabbed three people.
At least two people were seriously injured in Thursday's stabbing incident, Israeli police told the media.
Images from the Jerusalem gay pride stabbing showed blood on the streets and wounded marchers lying on the ground.
The moment of the attack was also captured on camera, as Schlissel pulled out his knife and charged at protesters.
"We didn't realise what happened but I was pulling the friends who were with me to run away. We just banged on doors of people's houses. We tried asking them to get us inside.When we came back I saw a few bodies on the floor right in front of me. Everyone had blood on their hands because they were trying to help," Yasmin Yusupov, 20, told BBC.
Some religious leaders from the extremist Lehava organisation condemned the pride march.
"This is the holy city of Jerusalem and there is no place for such [a parade], and no reason for people to be proud about it. If such people can have a pride march, then soon pedophiles and anyone else with such inclinations can hold a march," Rabbi Bentzi Gopstein told The Jerusalem Post.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack a "hate crime".
"A despicable hate crime was committed this evening in Jerusalem. In Israel everyone, including the gay community, has the right to live in peace, and we will defend that right," he said, according to The Jerusalem Post.
