Thousands marched in Jerusalem’s Pride Parade Thursday afternoon under tight security, as parade-goers marked a decade since the fatal stabbing of a teenage girl who partook in the annual event.

Many marchers — including President Isaac Herzog and a handful of foreign diplomats — laid wreaths and flowers as they passed the site where 16-year-old Shira Banki was murdered by a Haredi extremist in a 2015 stabbing attack that wounded six other people.

As in previous years since Banki’s murder, police closed major roads in the capital along the route of the march, blocking pedestrians from entering the area unless they wore a pink wristband, signaling their participation in the event.

Some 2,000 officers and border cops were deployed, with most manning crowd control barricades lining the streets.

The Jerusalem Open House, the organization running the parade, said the event would “reflect the spirit of the times” with Israel fighting in Gaza, hostages languishing in Hamas captivity and rising anti-LGBTQ sentiment worldwide.

Some marchers came decked out in rainbow flags, sequin-laden clothes and eye-catching makeup, while others treated the event as a protest, donning hostage families’ t-shirts and waving signs deriding Israel’s right-wing politicians.

Members of the progressive advocacy group Mehazkim, who were handing out merchandise ahead of the march, told The Times of Israel that police ordered them to remove anti-war messaging from their stand.

“We had stickers and shirts about ending the war, bringing the hostages back and ending the occupation,” said a volunteer with the group. “Police officers requested that we remove all these things or they’d force us out of the event and fine us. They also took pictures of our IDs.”

She said that police justified the decision by insisting the event was not political, even though several center-left political parties were able to freely distribute their merchandise.

During the march, a group of left-wing marchers who........

© The Times of Israel