Ultra-Orthodox rioters in Jerusalem threw rocks towards a bus carrying IDF soldiers from the Kfir Brigade during a Thursday riot, after a routine parking enforcement operation escalated into a protest. The army confirmed that no soldiers were injured during the event.
Soldiers tried to help the police disperse the rioters, but were forced to go back inside the bus violently. The police had to use stun grenades to disperse the rioting crowd.
"Following the bus's stoppage, which was caused by a crowd of civilians around it, the commanders got off the bus and secured it until the arrival of Israel Police forces. The forces evacuated the protesters and allowed the bus to continue on its way," the army confirmed.
Yesh Atid MK Naor Shiri said that every rioter involved "should end the day with a bullet in the knee," in a post on social media.
He later retracted that statement, but assured that if "a stone had struck a soldier and he had been injured, God forbid, the discourse would undoubtedly have been entirely different regarding the boundaries of the protest."
"I deleted my previous post because our country is on the edge, and any interpretations of hatred toward the ultra-Orthodox were not the purpose of the tweet," he added.
The haredi Jews involved in the riot injured 13 police officers and threw rocks at a bus with IDF soldiers, while they also flipped a car and damaged several police vehicles.
Riots in Jerusalem over parking ticket
The riot began on Thursday, when a police officer tried to issue a routine parking ticket to a haredi man. During this interaction, several ultraorthodox Jews were identified as draft evaders.
Police attempted to detain them and hand them over to the Military Police, prompting a swift and violent response from bystanders. Rioters hurled stones, overturned a car, vandalized a police vehicle and property, and threw trash cans at officers.
The police said four individuals were arrested on suspicion of participating in the violence.
Reinforcements from the police and Border Police units were summoned to the scene, but they too were attacked. The Jerusalem District police authorized the use of stun grenades to disperse the rioting crowd. Footage from the scene showed officers struggling to extract a vehicle surrounded by a mob.
Efrat Forsher and Avi Solomon contributed to this report.