Home
News
In Focus
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more »Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
Restaurants get off to a quick start thanks to game-changing policies
High service charges on event ticket refunds call for further regulation
Sunday
- Subscribe
Related News
Gunman kills 2 at Tel Aviv club for gay youths
Source: Agencies |
August 2, 2009, Sunday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
A GUNMAN sprayed automatic fire at an Israeli club for gay teenagers yesterday, killing two people and wounding at least eight, police and witnesses said.
The shooting spree in central Tel Aviv set off a citywide security clampdown, reviving memories of Palestinian attacks that have ebbed in recent years. But a police spokesman said that the incident was "criminal, rather than nationalistic".
Citing witnesses, Israeli television said a black-clad, masked gunman stormed into the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association building and opened fire in a basement room where teenage homosexuals were holding a weekly support group.
Most of the casualties were minors, the police spokesman said, adding that the assailant was believed to have used an automatic weapon such as an M-16 rifle.
"This is an unprecedented event for Israel and for the community," association director May Pamel told Channel 10 TV.
"We have joined the roster of 'civilised' countries where hatred is the standard."
Coastal, cosmopolitan Tel Aviv has a bustling gay scene, but open homosexuality is less welcome in conservative areas of the Jewish state. Annual gay pride parades in Jerusalem meet with often violent protests from ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Tel Aviv police chief Shachar Ayalon stopped short of branding the shooting a hate crime remarks to reporters.
But one protester at the scene held up a placard blaming a powerful religious Jewish political party whose members have regularly inveighed against gays.
Israeli media said police had warned other gay clubs in Tel Aviv to close for fear of a follow-up attack.
The shooting spree in central Tel Aviv set off a citywide security clampdown, reviving memories of Palestinian attacks that have ebbed in recent years. But a police spokesman said that the incident was "criminal, rather than nationalistic".
Citing witnesses, Israeli television said a black-clad, masked gunman stormed into the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association building and opened fire in a basement room where teenage homosexuals were holding a weekly support group.
Most of the casualties were minors, the police spokesman said, adding that the assailant was believed to have used an automatic weapon such as an M-16 rifle.
"This is an unprecedented event for Israel and for the community," association director May Pamel told Channel 10 TV.
"We have joined the roster of 'civilised' countries where hatred is the standard."
Coastal, cosmopolitan Tel Aviv has a bustling gay scene, but open homosexuality is less welcome in conservative areas of the Jewish state. Annual gay pride parades in Jerusalem meet with often violent protests from ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Tel Aviv police chief Shachar Ayalon stopped short of branding the shooting a hate crime remarks to reporters.
But one protester at the scene held up a placard blaming a powerful religious Jewish political party whose members have regularly inveighed against gays.
Israeli media said police had warned other gay clubs in Tel Aviv to close for fear of a follow-up attack.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
