Muslim pilgrims cast sanitized pebbles Friday as they “stoned the devil” in the last major Hajj duty, organized this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Massive crowds in previous years triggered deadly stampedes during the ritual, but this year only up to 10,000 Muslims are taking part after millions of international pilgrims were barred.
In the scorching heat, worshippers made their way across Mina Valley near Mecca under the watchful eyes of security forces, to symbolically “humiliate” the devil.
Masked pilgrims, clad in white and spaced apart on marked spots to observe social distancing, threw seven stones each at a wall symbolizing Satan.
Instead of gathering the pebbles themselves as in past years, they were handed them bagged and sterilized by haj authorities, to protect against the novel coronavirus.
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