Ultra-Orthodox Break Windows After Woman Refuses To Go to Back of Bus
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Ultra-Orthodox protesters attacked and damaged three buses in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Shemesh on Wednesday, after a female traveling on one of the buses refused a Haredi passenger’s order to move to the back and sit separately from the men.
Following her refusal, demonstrators blocked the path of the bus and smashed its windshield, then targeted two other buses nearby. Police were summoned to the site.
An eyewitness passenger said that the No. 417 bus from Ramat Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem was packed when he got on the bus, due to the summer vacation. When the driver pulled up to one of the Beit Shemesh stops, he said, four men in ultra-Orthodox garb blocked the bus and began striking at its windshield with a hammer. The other passengers were frightened, the witness said, adding that there were babies on board at the time.
Police detained two people for questioning in the wake of the incident: the man who ordered the woman to move to the back of the bus, and a female passenger who tried to obstruct police from arresting the suspect.
For more go to Haaretz
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