Hundreds
of haredim were involved in violent
riots in Jaffa on Wednesday, in Rehov Louis Pasteur around
the site of an archeological dig. Fifteen haredim were arrested.
The haredim maintain that the work desecrates the sanctity of ancient
bones at the site. Rabbi Tuvia Weiss, the senior rabbinic leader of
the Eda Haredit Badatz (rabbinical court), was on the scene to encourage
the protesters
and lead a curse against those working at the site.
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Police
said the demonstration was illegal. Demonstrators attacked police officers with
bricks and rocks and also set fire to trash cans. There
were attempts to knock policemen from their horses and five
policemen were reported injured.
Two photographers were also injured and an Israel Radio reporter was forced to seek protection inside a police van.
The
demonstrators broke into the old Jewish cemetery, which is close to the
site of the dig.
Louis
Pasteur and Yefet
Street were closed to traffic.
A
couple of days ago, two
hundred haredim protested near the site and three demonstrators were
arrested. Israel Antiquities
Authority (IAA) reported that vandals
had ransacked an archaeological excavation of buildings from the
late-Ottoman period in Jaffa on Sunday night.
"The
damage
done to these impressive buildings from the late Ottoman era is
irreversible," said Dr. Yoav Arbel, director of the excavation. The
archaeological dig is taking place before the construction of a
high-rise building.
Haredim have
demonstrated against archaeological digs in the area several times
because of their opposition to disturbing Jewish graves on the site.