Arrests made at radical Haredi sect's protest in Bnei Brak
Dozens arrested by early evening as members of radical Jerusalem Faction of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox sect take to the streets once again to demonstrate against IDF conscription and in display support for imprisoned draft-dodger; protestors call cops 'Nazis', vow not to draft into ‘army of destruction.’
The demonstrations against the IDF conscription law were reinvigorated amid demands for the release of a grandson of a prominent member of the radical faction from military prison.
Arrests were made when some of the sect’s members engaged in physical altercations with police, which were sent to the ultra-Orthodox city to prevent the protesters from making their way to Route 4 and blocking it during its busiest hour.
Assembling at Jabotinsky street and Aharonovich street, the protesters carried signs saying: “I won’t draft into the army of destruction” and “Enough with castrating the Torah world”, while others hurled verbal insults at the police, calling them Nazis.
The Committee to Save the Torah World, which organizes the faction’s protests, issued a statement promising that its resolve would not be diminished.
“Any attempt to break our spirit will come up again and again against a stubborn wall of tens of thousands of heroic rabbis who will stand opposed and will cry out against the compromising tendencies at home and abroad,” the statement said.
“The judge, before the sentencing, explained that the punishment was intensified by the fact that refusal to report to the recruitment offices harms the integration of the ultra-Orthodox into the IDF. We will prove to anyone who needs proof that we will continue with full force to damage this terrible integration, as taught by the great sages of Israel throughout the generations,” it continued.
The protest’s organizers also claimed that the police used excessive force to prevent other factions members from joining.
Later on in the evening, a group of Haredim from the sect made their way to Ramat Gan, where they caused damage to vehicles and threw rocks at police officers.
“Hundreds of protesters arrive, threw rocks at officers, threw objects, sprayed the policemen with tear gas and caused damage to cars. The police arrested four more rioters,” a statement by the police said.
On Wednesday, the court of Appeals sentenced the draft dodger, who studies at the prestigious Kol Torah yeshiva in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of the capital, to 45 days in prison.
The sentence came despite the Military Court in Jaffa ordering 24 hours earlier that he be released on Friday.
Police arrested the draft dodger during a routine check carried out by a traffic policeman. He is the grandson of one of the senior rabbis who teaches at the yeshiva.
In March, the faction renewed their protests, less than two weeks after their leader Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach passed away.
