Police officers are using stun grenades and batons against ultra-Orthodox protesters who blocked a major highway near Tel Aviv’s Haredi suburb of Bnei Brak over the arrest of IDF draft evaders.
Hatzalah said its medics treated eight people wounded at the demonstration, with several of them evacuated and hospitalized. The Israel Police said its officers have so far arrested five protesters.
Footage from the crackdown shows that police began using stun grenades within minutes of the demonstration beginning. The police’s use of batons against the protesters marks the first time the Tel Aviv District Police have used batons since 2020.
Footage also shows an officer ripping a protester’s pants while dragging him across the road.
The protest began following recent arrests of Haredi men evading mandatory IDF conscription. “When they try to shut down the Torah and the faith – we will shut down the state,” said the hardline Haredi movement associated with Rabbi Tzvi Friedman.
“The factories will be closed, the offices will be shut down – and all commerce will come to a standstill at a time when yeshiva students are being persecuted.”
Arye Dery, head of the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party Shas, urged far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to “wake up,” adding that it “cannot be” that police are treating Haredi protesters more brutally than “Kaplan Street anarchists who sought to destroy the country,” referring to anti-government protesters.