Riots in Jerusalem's Geula neighborhood, Saturday night
Photo: 'Protest of the Radical Haredim'
Radical ultra-Orthodox protestors on Saturday night clashed with police forces that arrived to evacuate the body of a 63-year-old missing man found in a guesthouse in Jerusalem's Geula neighborhood.
A Haredi protestor was run over by the ambulance evacuating the body.
The protestors set fire to garbage bins and caused damage to police cars. In response, the police used stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
Riots and stun grenades over body evacuation (Video: 'Protest of the Radical Haredim') (מחאת החרדים הקיצונים)
The man found at the guesthouse was proclaimed dead by a Magen David Adom crew earlier Saturday night. When a member of the ZAKA emergency organization arrived to evacuate the body to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute to rule out criminal wrongdoing, radical Haredim started flocking to the place and rioting.
At first, the Haredim gathered outside the guesthouse to prevent the body from being removed from the place. Later, they tried to block the ambulance that had arrived to evacuate the body. They started clashing with the police, who fired stun grenades and began forcibly removing the protestors.
Ambulance runs over one of the protestors (Video: 'Protest of the Radical Haredim') (מחאת החרדים הקיצונים)
Despite the resistance, the body was eventually evacuated to Abu Kabir. The deceased was childless and likely had no family to object the autopsy. The police are obliged in such incidents to clarify the cause of death in order to rule out criminal wrongdoing.
The ambulance was escorted out of the neighborhood by the police forces, as protestors kept trying to block it. The ambulance was documented running over one of the protestors. Despite the riots, the police have yet to arrest any suspects.