Huge crowd shows solidarity with Tel Aviv gays

Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in central Tel Aviv on Saturday to express solidarity with the gay community, a week after a gunman killed two people at a gay youth center. President Shimon Peres led political leaders in the show of support and spoke from a podium decorated with the rainbow flag. "The bullets that hit the gay community at the beginning of the week struck us all as people, as Jews, as Israelis ... criminals will not set our agenda," Peres said in a speech. Last Saturday, a masked gunman burst into a community center for gay teenagers in Tel Aviv and shot dead a 26-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl. Thirteen other people were wounded. A crowd of tens of thousands filled Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, a focal point for major Israeli protests, for the peaceful show of solidarity, a police spokesman said.