Haredim protest at Intel Jerusalem
Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox arrive at Intel's Jerusalem plant for second weekly protest against its operation on Sabbath. Rioters attack driver, passengers of vehicle traveling on road nearby, police intervene to prevent injury
The hundreds of protestors yelled "Shabbos" near the plant's gates. Eyewitnesses said security guards kept them from entering Intel's grounds while police unsuccessfully attempted to disband the group.
Officers on horseback were subsequently alerted to the scene, and police closed off all roads leading to the area.
Haredim also yelled out derogatory terms at officers, calling them "Nazis" and "Leftists", and spat on journalists and photographers. A few dozen took to the rooftops of nearby factories.
At a later stage in the protest some of the demonstrators sat on the road and held hands in an attempt to keep police from evacuating them by force.
A member of Jerusalem's city council, attorney Elisha Peleg of the Likud, criticized police for blocking the city's main roads.
"There is no justification for preventing visitors coming to Jerusalem from passing (on these streets)," he said. "The haredim are always outraged at the seculars' harming of the status-quo, despite the fact that they are the ones disrupting life in the city."
Earlier Jerusalem Police arrested an ultra-Orthodox teen on suspicion that he was involved in last week's riots and damaged Intel property. He was taken in for questioning.
The protest was a continuation of the riots that occurred last Saturday, in which 1,500 haredim arrived at the plant and attacked journalists on the scene. The protestors threw gravel and other objects at the journalists, but did not succeed in causing injury.
When Jerusalem's deputy mayor, Yitzhak Pindrus of the United Torah Judaism Party, arrived at the protest grounds he was forcibly removed by the protestors, who chastised him for allowing the desecration of the Sabbath.
Ronen Medzini contributed to this report
