After the police announced that they would not allow the Baba Sali's Hilula to take place due to a lack of safety permits, his son Rabbi Baruch Abuhatzeira announced that he did not accept the decision.
"All the salvation of the house of Israel, in the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora, rests on this holy place. From all around the world people beseech the Holy One Blessed be He in the merit of the tzaddik," he said. "Who could think of taking this sanctified day away from them?"
He further wrote that "if we had heard that in other places they had closed and prevented people from coming, that would have been a half-consolation. But the theme is that they only forbid places of holiness and purity - how can I not notice?"
"I hereby inform any clerk or official who thinks of restricting and preventing the great joy at the resting place of my holy father, that he cannot in good conscience say that he restricted for the benefit of the public. You had enough time to organize and arrange what you wanted, and the prevention now is nothing but a malignant thorn and a painful jet in the hearts of hundreds of thousands every year who visit the grave on the holy day."
He concluded his letter with the following words: "Please remove your hands from the Holy, cease evil, do not mess with this revered place - it will not succeed."