More than a thousand hareidi religious community in Jerusalem took to the streets towards the end of the Sabbath to demonstrate, some of whom threw rocks at police over the opening of a parking lot on the Sabbath.
Most of the rock-throwing crowd was from the Meah Shearim neighborhood of the capital, but other incidents of stones hurled at cars also were reported elsewhere.
The violence was less than the previous week, when police arrested more than two dozen demonstrators who wounded at least one law enforcement officer and several protestors suffered injuries. No serious physical clashes were reported this week, as of 9 p.m. Saturday evening.
The center of the controversy is the Karta parking lot, located opposite Jaffa Gate at the Old City, which the city has opened to accommodate tourists who are unable to drive through the Old City.
Mayor Nir Barkat pushed for opening the parking lot as a compromise plan to the original proposal to open the Safra parking facility, which is closer to the center of the city and to Meah Shearim.
Hareidi religious leaders have argued that opening the lot on the Sabbath encourages motorists to drive, in violation of the day or rest, and also breaks the “status quo” status between observant and non-observant segments of the city, where limited public Sabbath desecration is permitted in certain neighborhoods.