Over 20,000 Israelis attend Jerusalem Pride Parade under heavy security

More than 20,000 Israelis marched in the Jerusalem Pride Parade under heavy security on Thursday, a year after an Orthodox zealot killed a teenage parader.

Organizers of the event called the 15th annual parade the "biggest" Pride Parade in Jerusalem.

The parade this year was held under heavy security, with over 2,000 Israeli policemen and border police guards securing it. The Israeli police had set up barriers and operated two security checkpoints to the designated perimeter of the march.

The unprecedented security in central Jerusalem follows a deadly attack in the 2015 Pride Parade in Jerusalem, in which an Orthodox Jew, Yishai Shlisel, killed 15-year-old Shira Banki and injured five others.

Marchers laid flowers in the spot where Banki was stabbed last year, and her parents are set to speak at the parade's closing rally.

Politicians from the center-left Zionist Union Party, the left-wing Meretz Party and the center Yesh Atid Party also took part in the parade.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the parade on Thursday, saying in a video posted on his Facebook page that the march symbols "unity," calling for Israelis to "accept one another with respect and equality" without regard to "religion, race or sexual preference."

Soon after the parade's kickoff, the Israeli police arrested 30 suspects for allegedly planning to obstruct the proper course of the parade, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

Police officers recovered knives from two of the suspects, Samri added.

Earlier on Thursday, the police said it had arrested Yishai Shlisel, who is currently serving life in prison for Banki's murder, on suspicion of conspiring to carry out another attack this year with his brother from his prison cell.

His brother Michael was arrested on Wednesday by the Israeli police, who denied the allegations leveled against him.

Police had also ordered Shlisel's family members to stay away from Jerusalem on the day of the parade.

Another person, member of an extremist right-wing organization, was arrested by the Israeli police on Thursday morning after he posted inciting remarks on his Facebook page.

Other than the high level of security amid last year's attack, the parade received great attention this year over controversial statements against homosexuals made by Israeli orthodox rabbis.

The Israel Defense Forces' recently-nominated chief Rabbi, Col. Eyal Karim, said gay people are "sick and disabled," whereas prominent rabbi Yigal Levinstein, who heads a religious pre-military academy, said they are "deviants."

Israel is perceived to be a tolerant nation towards the LGBT community, with the Tel Aviv annual Pride Parade attracting thousands of visitors from around the world each year. Endit