Skirmishes Mark Protest Of Road Traffic On Sabbath Thoroughfare Has Become The Site Of Weekly Clashes This Summer

Hurling dirty diapers, stones and bottles at police and passing cars, about 1,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrated Saturday against a Supreme Court order to keep a city road open to traffic on the Jewish Sabbath.

The protesters shouted “Shabbes, Shabbes!” - Yiddish for “Sabbath” - and repeatedly tried to block Bar-Ilan Street, only to be pushed back by police.

The thoroughfare runs through an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood, and has become the site of weekly confrontations this summer between secular and ultraOrthodox Jews.

There were no reports of injuries or arrests Saturday, although the windshields of two cars were smashed.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews want the street closed to traffic on the Sabbath, which lasts from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

Israel’s secular majority fears capitulation on the point could lead to similar demands throughout the country.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews believe driving violates the biblical command to rest on the Sabbath.

Police Minister Avigdor Kahalani came to Bar-Illan Street to urge calm among the demonstrators, who draped a sign across the street urging that Israelis “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”

“It’s not easy to exercise restraint at such times,” Kahalani said.

“We all live under the rule of law. You can shout ‘Shabbes,’ but stay on the sidewalk and don’t harm any policemen, and don’t try to close the road.”

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis’ own appeals for restraint had some effect, said Jerusalem police chief Arye Amit, saying authorities had expected a larger protest Saturday.

Tensions ran high after the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Bar-Ilan Street must stay open pending a review of government policy on Sabbath traffic.

Roughly 10 percent of Israel’s 4.6 million Jews are ultra-Orthodox, easily distinguishable from the secular twothirds majority by the side curls, black top coats and black hats among the men and long hems and head scarves among the married women.

The ultra-Orthodox usually live in separate neighborhoods, obey their own rabbis and courts, and live by a strict interpretation of Jewish law.

Since religious parties increased their power in Israel’s newly elected parliament, thousands of ultra-Orthodox have staged Sabbath demonstrations on BarIlan Street.