As the 3,000-person Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance Parade is set to begin under heavy security – 1 cop per 2 marchers – Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Rabbi Yitzhak Pindrus is less than pleased. The leader of this strongly religious city wants to meet the marchers with his own march of donkeys.

“This expresses what we think — that this is a beastly act,” Pindrus said. His spokesman later added: “Donkeys also have rights to be recognised as couples. We are in favour of donkey rights.”

Police have put the kibosh on Pindrus’ unusual protest idea, saying counter-protesters will only be allowed to hold cardboard cutouts of donkeys aloft.

This year’s parade marks the anniversary, according to the Jewish calendar, of the brutal murders of two at an LGBT youth center in Tel Aviv, making Pindrus’ proposal particularly insulting. In previous years, marchers have been harried by bomb threats and attempts by Jerusalem’s large Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community to disrupt and attack the parade.