Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews protest against Israel’s quarantine measures

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By Aiden Pink March 22, 2020

Hundreds of Haredi Jews protested in Jerusalem on Sunday against the Israeli government’s strict quarantine measures, including the closure of schools and yeshivas.

Protesters in the Haredi neighborhood of Mea Shearim threw rocks at police officers who had come to close businesses that had stayed open despite government orders, the Times of Israel reported. Some yelled that the officers were “Nazis.”

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One police officer was lightly injured and three protesters were arrested, the Times of Israel reported.

Most of Israel’s Orthodox communities have complied with social distancing and quarantine laws, though there have been some high-profile holdouts, The Jerusalem Post reported. Government officials have reportedly been unable to convince the rabbinic leaders of the Ashkenazi non-Hasidic Haredi community to close their yeshivas despite the mandates, so police enforcement will likely step up, a police spokesman told the Post.

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink

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