MINA, Dec 8: Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims stoned walls symbolising the devil in a narrow valley outside Makkah on Monday at the most dangerous stage of the Haj pilgrimage.

“It took a long time since they made us go in one line, but it was easy to do,” said Osama Khashaba, an Egyptian accountant, after throwing stones at the Jamarat Bridge in a ritual that represents rejection of temptation.

The bridge in the valley of Mina just outside Makkah has been the scene of a number of deadly stampedes. The last was in 2006 when 362 people were crushed to death in the worst Haj tragedy since 1990.

Saudi authorities have made renovations to ease the flow of pilgrims at the bridge, adding an extra level so that they have four platforms from which to throw stones each day.

Authorities also appealed to pilgrims this year to throw their stones at any time of day rather than only in the afternoon, as Saudi clerics have often insisted in the past.

Saudi Arabia has not so far reported any glitches in the Haj, a challenging logistical feat that has been marred in previous years by deadly fires, hotel collapses, police clashes with protesters and stampedes caused by overcrowding.

“Let’s make the accidents at the stoning part of history, may it never return,” Saudi television said in one programme.

Elaborate crowd control measures, involving security forces and a maze of paths marked by barriers, guided pilgrims to the three spots by the bridge in the Mina valley where they threw stones they had collected overnight at a spot called Muzdalifa.

“This crowdedness is really scary,” said Umm Mohammad, a Syrian pilgrim. “God willing no one will be hurt.”

The government has also been tougher this year in preventing Saudis and foreign residents taking part without official Haj permits. Saudi media put the pilgrim total at a relatively low 2.4 million people, including a record 1.72 million from abroad -- a sign that the crackdown has worked.Many pilgrims returned to the Grand Mosque in Makkah after the first round of stoning rituals late on Sunday.

On Sunday, pilgrims spent the day in prayer at Arafat.—Reuters