Jewish pilgrimage of Ghriba in Tunisia under tight security protection

TUNIS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Tunis has provided tight security protection for thousands of Jewish pilgrims visiting Ghriba in the Tunisian island of Djerba for a religious festival starting Wednesday.

About 5,000 to 6,000 Jews from around the world attended this year's Lag B'Omer festival in the Ghriba Synagogue, located in Djerba in southeastern Tunisia, which is known as the first and oldest synagogue in Africa with a 2,500-year history.

This pilgrimage is usually organized on the 33rd day of Passover, especially since it is one of the major annual festivals for Tunisian Jews.

Perez Trabelsi, president of organizing committee for this annual event, said that Tunisian leaders are among the visitors to Djerba during the Jewish holiday.

Located near the Libyan border, the island of Djerba is put under tight protection with massive presence of security enforcement officers and patrols, as well as military reinforcements deployed since April 2, a local source told Xinhua.

Mixed patrols, including police, national guards and army, are in place all over the island, equipped with scanners and detectors for weapons, metals and explosives.

"The security has been imposed on land, sea and air," reassured Tunisian Minister of Interior Lotfi Brahem, who visited Djerba Tuesday, one day before the start of this religious event.

Last year, about 2,000 foreign Jewish pilgrims and 1,500 Tunisian Jews made the pilgrimage to the Ghriba, three times higher than 2016.

The Ghriba Synagogue has been the target of two terror attacks in the past. The first one occurred in 1985, when a soldier shot dead five people, including four Jews. Then in 2002, a suicide bombing at the synagogue killed 21 people. Enditem