Arrests, injuries in Charedim protest in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM — At least 28 fervently Orthodox protesters were arrested during riots over the Sabbath opening of a Jerusalem parking lot. A six-year-old boy, four police officers and a 20-year-old Charedi man were wounded in the continuing protests on Saturday as the demonstrators threw rotten fruit, rocks and soiled nappies at police.

At least 1000 demonstrators who supported Mayor Nir Barkat’s decision to open the lot to Saturday visitors to Jerusalem protested nearby.

Violent protests spread to several of Jerusalem’s fervently Orthodox neighborhoods. After the end of the Sabbath, protesters set fire to garbage bins.

On June 25 the Jerusalem District Court agreed to a request by Jerusalem’s municipality to keep the city-run Safra parking garage closed on the Sabbath and instead open the nearby, privately-owned Karta parking lot, which is in receivership.

Both parking lots are near the Old City’s Jaffa Gate, and fervently Orthodox Jews have objected to the opening of the lots on the Sabbath.

Thousands of fervently Orthodox Jerusalemites also turned out for a protest on Friday night despite the ruling, which some cast as a compromise because it allowed the city-owned lot to remain closed.

Two weeks ago, Charedi protesters and police clashed following the opening of the municipal lot near City Hall, with six policemen sustaining injuries from thrown objects.

Barkat announced at the time that the lot would be closed for two weeks so that a compromise could be forged.

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