6 Haredim arrested after Mea Shearim rioters protest Lieberman visit
Arrests made after ultra-Orthodox rioters hurl objects at cops escorting Defense Minister Lieberman while he was visiting a mourning family in the Jerusalem neighborhood; eight-year-old girl lightly hurt after being hit by stone thrown by rioters.
Six Haredim were arrested Tuesday for assaulting policemen during riots in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood after clashes broke out when Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited a mourning family to offer his condolences.
As word of Lieberman's arrival to the neighborhood quickly spread, a group of ultra-Orthodox men gathered outside the residential building he was visiting on Avraham MiSlonim Street.
A police force was called to the scene to disperse the crowd and safely escort the defense minister out of the neighborhood.
When Lieberman left the building escorted by police, the ultra-Orthodox men started throwing stones and other objects at the officers.
An eight-year-old girl who was standing nearby was lightly injured from a stone that hit her head. She received initial treatment on the scene by police officers and passersby and was later taken to the hospital by Magen David Adom paramedics.
An hour after Lieberman's arrival in the neighborhood, a police officer dressed as an IDF soldier was sent to walk among the protesters for several minutes accompanied by two plain-clothed police officers.
The Haredi protesters surrounded the policeman in IDF uniforms, threw water and bags of trash at him, and called him a "Nazi," a "murderer" and a "Hardak" (a derogatory term for Haredi soldiers used within their own communities). A police force had to come to extract him.
Several minutes later, police returned to the scene and were pelted with chairs, trash bags and dirty diapers being thrown out windows in nearby buildings. Six rioters were arrested for assaulting the policemen.
The rioters said they were protesting the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox men to the IDF and the amendments to the draft law that make it hard on yeshiva students to receive an exemption.
Meanwhile, police forces raided the offices an organization responsible for arranging exemptions from IDF conscription. The police confiscated materials needed for an investigation, which included two hard drives, tablets, laptops and documents.
