Several thousand extremist haredi men protested and rioted across the country on Thursday afternoon due to the arrest of a yeshiva student on Wednesday who was detained by military police for failing to present himself to an IDF enlistment office.
The protestors were also demonstrating against the High Court of Justice’s decision this week to halt the state’s payments of stipends to several thousand full-time yeshiva students, and against the coming legislation to draft haredim into the army.
The protests were called by the leaders of the hardline Jerusalem Faction, a haredi grouping opposed to any cooperation or compromise with the state on the issue of haredi enlistment.
Police reported that 27 protestors were arrested in total around the country and two policemen were injured during the protests, one due to a stone thrown at him by rioters.
Demonstrators gathered at major traffic intersections at the entrances to Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Ashdod, and Modiin Illit in order to stop traffic, and tussled with the police in several locations.
In Jerusalem underneath the Bridge of Strings at the entrance to the city a group of haredi protesters attempted to block traffic. Police dispersed the protesters using spray cannons. Twelve protesters were arrested for disturbing the peace.
At the Coca Cola junction on Highway 4 near Bnei Brak, some 2,000 haredi protesters demonstrated.
Southbound traffic on Highway 4 was blocked for a period in the "Em Hamoshavot" area. Police reopened the roadway later on Thursday but traffic was heavy.
And twelve haredi protesters were arrested at the entrance to Ashdod for disturbing public order and assaulting police. Later, dozens of demonstrators gathered outside a police station in the city and set fire to a police patrol vehicle.
Demonstrations also took place outside Beit Shemesh and Modiin Illit. Thirty-five protesters were arrested in total across the country.
The yeshiva student who was arrested on Wednesday, named Yitzhak Zer, comes from Ashdod. He was taken to the IDF’s Prison Six near Haifa. Zer, 18, is associated with the a haredi the Jerusalem Faction which has taken an even more militant line against enlistment to the army than the mainstream haredi leadership.
The faction, led by Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, instructs yeshiva students loyal to it not to present themselves at IDF enlistment offices when called to do so.
People who fail to report to the IDF enlistment offices after receiving orders from the army are considered by the army to be deserters and liable to arrest by the military police.
Two haredi youth associated with the Jerusalem Faction were arrested in December for failing to report to enlistment offices.
The mainstream haredi leadership instructs yeshiva students to report to IDF enlistment offices but not to sign documents. In this way, they are not considered deserters and are not liable to arrest.