Gay march canceled and rally in Jerusalem stadium held instead. 

"Organizers had originally planned a parade, but cancelled the march at the last minute Thursday and held a closed gathering inside a stadium instead.."

 " Jerusalem - After more than a week of riots by ultra-Orthodox opponents and amid strict security, about 4,000 gays, lesbians and supporters celebrated in Jerusalem Friday, calling their rally a 'victory for democracy and human rights.'

Organizers had originally planned a parade, but cancelled the march at the last minute Thursday and held a closed gathering inside a stadium instead, after police said they would be unable to protect the event due to warnings that Palestinians would try to avenge a deadly Israeli artillery strike in Gaza earlier this week.

At least 3,000 police guarded the stadium and its surroundings, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding several thousand others patrolled elsewhere Jerusalem, including near the al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City.

Five right-wing religious Jews were arrested after found carrying knives and sticks in a nearby park, in addition to a man with a tyre puncher detained elsewhere in the city, police said.

'This is a struggle for equality, free speech and democracy,' said Zehava Galon, a lawmaker from the left-liberal, gay-friendly Meretz party.

'The fact that the event took place means that we won this struggle,' she told the crowd, which waved the gay community's colourful rainbow flags and signs saying 'I'm proud to be gay.'

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