The entrae Phototo Jerusalem was blocked Monday evening at around 5 p.m. near the Chords Bridge, while members of the Jerusalem Faction, an anti-draft ultra-Orthodox group, also staged protests at the Ganot Interchange, one of the country's largest highway junctions.
Violent clashes broke out in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood outside the home of Police Traffic Division Commander Maj. Gen. Haim Shmueli, which dozens of protesters attempted to storm. Police used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the crowd and arrested two protesters.
Violent clashes outside the home of a senior police commander
(Video: Liran Tamari)
Protesters enter railway tracks in central Israel
Meanwhile, demonstrators entered railway tracks in the Ganot area, prompting Israel Railways to completely suspend train service across central Israel. About an hour after the widespread road blockades began, ultra-Orthodox protesters also started blocking the Ofakim Junction in southern Israel and the police technology division headquarters in Jerusalem's Har Hotzvim industrial zone. They also smashed windows at the entrance to the facility.
Jerusalem's Begin Boulevard was also blocked, and protesters shut down the entrance to Safed. Earlier, Netivei Israel, the state-owned road company, said both directions of Route 4 near the Ganot Interchange had been closed, along with the Netivot Junction on Route 25. Traffic congestion was reported on Route 4 from the Holon East Interchange because of the demonstrations.
Protesters chanted, "We will die and not enlist," and some were filmed disembarking from buses at blocked intersections.
Earlier Monday, all eight suspects arrested on suspicion of involvement in riots near the Beit Shemesh police station were released from custody. The station was breached overnight following the arrest of an alleged draft evader. Protesters stormed the station, vandalized property and set fire to vegetation nearby.
The suspects were arrested on Route 38, the main access road to Bnei Brak, which protesters had attempted to block. They were released after police determined they currently lacked evidence linking them directly to the alleged offenses.
Earlier, the Forum of Haredi Local Authority Heads informed Police Commissioner Daniel Levy of its intention to suspend all cooperation with the police, accusing the force of becoming "an enemy of the Haredi sector." Among other measures, the municipalities said they would stop allocating municipal buildings for police station operations within their jurisdictions.
In a letter, the forum wrote that "the current situation, in which police are hunting yeshiva students in city streets and on highways, does not allow us to continue municipal cooperation."
The forum includes the heads of the Haredi-majority municipalities of Bnei Brak, Beit Shemesh, Elad, Beitar Illit, Modi’in Illit, Safed, Rechasim, Kiryat Ye’arim and Immanuel. Beitar Illit Mayor Meir Rubinstein, who also serves as chairman of the forum, signed the letter on their behalf.
The letter further stated: "We are turning to you with great sorrow and deep pain regarding the steps we are now taking, in order to clarify the reality into which you have placed us with the continued arrest of Torah students. The current situation, in which the police have become an enemy of the Haredi sector and are hunting yeshiva students in city streets and on highways, regrettably does not allow us to continue municipal cooperation with the police.
"Accordingly, we intend to announce a halt to cooperation between the local authorities and the Israel Police, up to and including the cancellation of all existing agreements. This includes municipal building allocations for police stations, the cancellation of community policing programs and the suspension of all existing cooperative initiatives, including the 'City Without Violence' program, welfare projects and other important programs. Most significantly, rabbis will be asked to issue instructions prohibiting any contact between the police and community leaders."
The local authority heads also accused police of creating risks to public safety through their actions.
"It is important to note that the result of police conduct will also be a failure to fulfill reporting obligations because of the lack of trust in the police, creating a genuine danger to human life," the letter said. "We are aware of the serious consequences of such a decision, but if the police have chosen to cooperate with the irresponsible conduct of the attorney general, who has decided to inflame tensions, destroy the calm and the status quo, and squander decades of cooperation and responsible joint management between police and community, then the responsibility rests on your shoulders.
"Your decision to arrest yeshiva students cuts away the foundation of even the most basic cooperation with the entire sector. In this way, you are driving the entire Haredi public, more than one million people, toward extremism. At the very last moment, stop the fire."