A hareidi religious man aged about 20 was seriously hurt in a Sabbath demonstration near the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim, Magen David Adom reported Saturday evening. He reportedly fell off of a fence. Police said they were not aware of the incident.
The demonstration on Saturday evening was the second of two protests by hareidi religious Jews in Jerusalem over the Sabbath, against the plan to open the Karta parking lot on Saturdays. The city had hoped that opening the Karta parking lot instead of the Safra parking lot, which is closer to large population centers of hareid religious Jews, would lessen hareidi religious resistance – but the demonstrations proved that this has not happened.
The first demonstration Friday, saw thousands of people protest the opening of the lot; however, it passed quietly. Fewer protesters attended the second one, on Shabbat afternoon, but the atmosphere was stormier, with 28 demonstrators arrested in the course of a protest which carried on into the late evening.
Kabalat Shabbat at Bar Ilan Street (Israel news photo: Flash 90).
Tens of thousands at prayer service
The Friday demonstration was a large-scale Kabalat Shabbat (Greeting the Sabbath -ed.) prayer service on Bar Ilan Street, backed by a long list of religious authorities, including all of the members of the Beit Din (Rabbinical Court -ed.) of the Eida Haredit (Badatz). The organizers used cars with megaphones and fliers to call the faithful to the demonstration, resulting in the turning out of tens of thousands.
Near Mea Shearim, Shabbat (Israel news photo: Flash 90).
Border police manhandle female demonstrator (Israel news photo: Flash 90).
The BeHadrei Haredim web site reported that reporters provoked the religious crowd by taking pictures and video of the prayers despite the Sabbath, but that the people who were praying did not react with violence, verbal or physical. Police from the Yassam unit fanned out in the vicinity of the event, but the demonstration-prayer went by quietly and the crowd dispersed of its own accord.
Non-religious web sites reported the event differently. Ynet and Haaretz claimed that some in the hareidi religious crowd spat at the journalists and banged on their cars, causing them to flee in a panic with police protection.
Boy hurt in the violence (Israel news photo: Flash 90).
Several hundred hareidi religious Jews held a prayer near the Karta parking lot, and several hundred others prayed at HaPisgah Street in Bayit VeGan.
28 arrests
On Saturday, a more volatile demonstration was held near Mea Shearim, culminating in 28 arrests. Police were making more arrests as the night wore on, and pushing the demonstrators back into Mea Shearim. As many as a thousand hareidi religious demonstrators reportedly hurled soiled diapers, rotten fruit and rocks at police.
Police separated the hareidi religious protesters from about one thousand non-religious demonstrators who showed up at Safra Square in support of the plan to open the parking lot. They held Israel flags as well as signs calling for “a free Jerusalem” and “save our home.”
Three police officers were lightly hurt in scuffles. One was reportedly hit in the eye by an object hurled at him. Police used water cannons to disperse the crowd.
Eleven hareidi religious protesters were arrested during the demonstration. Four more were arrested near the Karta parking lot and four others were nabbed at Bar Ilan Street, where police said they interfered with traffic.