Haredi protest
Haredi protestAvi Shimshi

The fallout from the controversial Enlistment Law mandating haredi IDF recruitment continues, as dozens of haredim on Monday morning blocked the Shilat Junction outside of Modi'in in protest of the arrest of four haredi yeshiva students who refused orders to enlist.

The haredi activists who reportedly hail from the "Jerusalem faction" headed by Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach were protesting the law, which has reportedly diminished haredi enlistment rather than increasing it.

In their protest, the activists tried to sit on the highway and blocked it with their bodies for several long minutes. They held signs reading "dictatorial crime," and "sanctify His Name in the masses."

Young haredim protested against the arrests in Jerusalem and Ashdod as well.

Dozens of haredim gathered on Sarei Yisrael Street in Jerusalem where they blocked off the road, and elsewhere in the capital haredim used garbage dumpsters to block Golda Meir Boulevard, leading to the northern neighborhood of Ramot. On the corner of Bar-Ilan and Shmuel Hanavi streets, dozens of haredim protested, and one was arrested for a breach of public order.

In Ashdod, 15 haredi protesters were arrested for breaching public order, and one police officer was lightly wounded, requiring medical treatment. During the protest, a central intersection in the city was blocked.

Protests were likewise held on Sunday night, and three haredim were arrested in Kikar Hashabbat in central Jerusalem for breaching the public order.

"Large police forces have been dispatched. Every breach of public order and disruption of traffic will be met with firm enforcement," read a police statement.

Haredim protest arrest of students refusing to enlist Avi Shimshi