1.   Before the stampede began, police held back crowds outside the area where pilgrims cast pebbles at three pillars symbolizing the temptations of Satan.

2.   Before the stampede began, police had been holding back crowds outside the area where pilgrims cast pebbles at three pillars symbolizing the temptations of Satan.

3.   The pilgrims gathered the stones Monday on the plain of Arafat for a ritual of stoning of the devil that symbolizes resisting temptation.

4.   The pillars symbolize the temptations of Satan.