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Haredi protesters clashing with police earlier this month in Jerusalem.
 (Emil Salman/JINI)
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Last update - 00:00 28/06/2009
28 arrested as Haredim riot over Shabbat opening of Jerusalem parking lot
By Nir Hasson and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents, and The Associated Press
Tags: Nir Barkat, Israel News 

Twenty eight ultra-Orthodox demonstrators were arrested and six people were wounded during riots in Jerusalem on Saturday over the opening of a parking lot in the capital on Shabbat.

A 20-year-old Haredi man sustained serious head wounds during the turmoil; Magen David Adom emergency services said the man, suffering from convulsions, was taken to Hadassah Ein Karem for medical treatment.

Police said they had no further details about the circumstances in which the man was wounded.
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Four police officers were also lightly hurt during the protests, as was a six-year-old boy, according to the Associated Press.

Near the site of the demonstration, thousands of secular Israelis held a counter-protest in support of Mayor Nir Barkat's decision to open the Carta parking lot.

Police had deployed a large force to secure the area amid fears that the secular rally could spark a violent clash with ultra-Orthodox protestors, who bitterly oppose the opening of the lot as a violation of the biblical command to rest on the Sabbath.

Haredi demonstrators did, in fact, congregate at the site, near Safra Square. While police managed to separate the two groups, the officers themselves scuffled with ultra-Orthodox demonstrators who hurled soiled diapers and rotten fruit and vegetables at them.

Police arrested the ultra-Orthodox protestors for disorderly conduct and illegal assembly. Four of them were detailed after they attempted to block the entrance to the Carta lot. Earlier, undercover policemen arrested four Haredim who damaged passing cars on Jerusalem's Bar Ilan Street.

Despite the ultra-Orthodox protesters' attempts to block the parking lot entrance in the afternoon, hundreds of cars were able to park there successfully on Saturday.

The Mayor's bureau said later Saturday that the lot solved the problems of parking and public safety in Jerusalem's Old City.

"The mayor is obligated to maintain the public's safety and this concern is what guides him," said a Barkat spokesperson. "The police must now be concerned with public order."

In the wake of the protests, Barkat's security detail has been reinforced and a security guard has been placed outside of his home.

On Friday, ultra-Orthodox Jerusalemites staged a mass rally to protest the parking lot's opening.

Droves of Haredim flooded Bar Ilan Street, a major throughway in the heart of an ultra-Orthodox district, as well as other sites in the city.

Violent riots also erupted three weeks ago, after the municipality passed a resolution to open the Safra parking lot in the city center on the Sabbath. Hoping to appease the protesters, Barkat decided to open the nearby Carta lot instead, but the controversy has not subsided.

Numerous Haredi leaders from various factions, including Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Shalom Elyashiv, a leader of the Lithuanian Haredi community, joined the call to hold the mass prayer session after the protest was initially led by Eda Haredit, an extremist ultra-Orthodox group.

Protesters attacked journalists who were covering the events, including Channel 2 reporter Dafna Liel who had to cut short a live report.



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      1.   all this fuss over a parking lot 22:06  |  Observer 26/06/09
      2.   reminder 22:26  |  potobac 26/06/09
      3.   Next targets: 23:17  |  Paul Freedman 26/06/09
      4.   Crazy people 00:41  |  Arnold 27/06/09
      5.   Haredim mobilize for a parking lot. Peace movement can`t 01:49  |  binny 27/06/09
      6.   Wait until they take over 02:00  |  Witness 27/06/09
      7.   Parking lot protest 02:19  |  R 27/06/09
      8.   Moshiachs Meal vs Parking Lot 05:33  |  Shimon Cleopas 27/06/09
      9.   observation 05:33  |  potobac 27/06/09
      10.   Do not mess with the Reb Zohan 05:35  |  A Salemite 27/06/09
      11.   I suggest Haredim relocate: to an island 10:21  |  Aaron 27/06/09
      12.   time has come 10:34  |  a future victim 27/06/09
      13.   haridim protest 11:16  |  J. B. 27/06/09
      14.   The Texas School Board just voted 16:21  |  Mark Lincoln 27/06/09
      15.   Poor Obama 19:16  |  BDS 27/06/09
      16.   Haredim oppose parking lot operating on Shabat 19:47  |  Eva 27/06/09
      17.   Religious extremism is ugly in any religion 19:48  |  Natallie Durson 27/06/09
      18.   Haredim are criminals & must be treated that way 20:21  |  Brad 27/06/09
      19.   And when will the charges be dropped? 20:40  |  Mark Lincoln 27/06/09
      20.   If the Israeli Arabs were disenfrachised . . . 21:03  |  bronxite10 27/06/09
      21.   hareidi freaks attacked my car en route to the protest! 21:33  |  michelle 27/06/09
      22.   I said before and I`ll say it again . . . 21:45  |  Zev Davis 27/06/09
      23.   Jerusalem our heritage 22:13  |  Tziporah Heller 27/06/09
      24.   parking lot 22:15  |  infidel 27/06/09
      25.   Parking Barking 22:25  |  Jasper 27/06/09
      26.   Droves?? 22:28  |  steve 27/06/09
      27.   ultra orrthodox jews 22:30  |  Toovia 27/06/09
      28.   WHY? 22:34  |  Sol 27/06/09
      29.   #20, infidel 22:57  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 27/06/09
      30.   A problem with prayers 22:59  |  Miche Norman 27/06/09
      31.   #20 infidel There Is None 22:59  |  Chet 27/06/09
      32.   # 20, THERE AIN`T NONE! 23:01  |  Ed 27/06/09
      33.   Double Standard 23:03  |  Adam 27/06/09
      34.   Shabbat Violation 23:46  |  Yonathan 27/06/09
      35.   brad 16 00:09  |  potobac 28/06/09
      36.   infidel 20 00:11  |  potobac 28/06/09
      37.   Rioting as a mitzvah 00:14  |  Nathaniel 28/06/09
      38.   #2 potobac is right 00:41  |  D 28/06/09
      39.   # 20 infidel "difference between these people and moslem fundamen 00:54  |  17 28/06/09
      40.   Note the grin on this "activists"face. 00:54  |  Jane@amazon.com 28/06/09
      41.   @ 16 , breaking the Sabbath 00:59  |  Mark to Brad 28/06/09
      42.   Israel is a Jewish state, it must respect the Jewish law! 01:00  |  Moise 28/06/09
      43.   parking lot zzzzzzzzzzzzz 01:14  |  alan 28/06/09
      44.   So How Come The Haredim Are Rioting On The Shabbat? 01:41  |  Jeff Northridge 28/06/09
      45.   Best argument for re-dividing Jerusalem 02:35  |  L.A. Reader 28/06/09
      46.   Jewish Mullahs call to action? 02:53  |  Jim the mechanic 28/06/09
      47.   Haredim riot to get their way 03:07  |  Sanity 28/06/09
      48.   Those Haredim!!! 03:25  |  MH 28/06/09
      49.   Nice Photo 05:00  |  Raphael 28/06/09
      50.   Haredim riot 06:35  |  Steve 28/06/09
      51.   WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SHTREIMEL 10:54  |  Alka Seltzer 28/06/09
      52.   Despicable 12:39  |  Yehudit 28/06/09
      53.   Haredim riot 13:41  |  JOHN 28/06/09
      54.   Haredim Riot 19:47  |  fran 28/06/09
      55.   Take your country back 04:50  |  john 29/06/09
      56.   Haredim riot over Shabbat 07:10  |  Sylvia 29/06/09
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