‘Six stabbed by ultra-Orthodox Jew’ at Gay Pride event in Jerusalem

• Plainclothes Israeli police detain an-ultra Orthodox Jew after he attacked people with a knife during a Gay Pride parade Thursday, July 30, 2015 in central Jerusalem. Photo by AP

At least six people have reportedly been stabbed at a gay pride parade in Jerusalem.

Local media, citing Israeli police, said that one person, thought to be an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man, had attacked six people taking part in the annual Gay Pride march.

At least two of the people wounded are in serious condition, the ambulance service told the BBC.

A police spokesman told the BBC that the suspect is Yishai Schlissel, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for stabbing three people in the 2005 parade and was released three weeks ago.

• Yishai Schlissel walks through a Gay Pride parade and is just about to pull a knife from under his coat and start stabbing people in Jerusalem, Thursday, July 30, 2015. Photo by AP

The march has long caused tension between the predominantly secular majority in Jerusalem and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority, who take exception to public displays of homosexuality.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack was against Israel’s ‘basic values.

‘In the state of Israel the individual’s freedom of choice is one of basic values. We must ensure that in Israel, every man and woman lives in security in any way they choose,’ he said.

• Blood litter the streets of Jerusalem