16 arrested during protests against public transportation on Shabbat
Protesters were arrested in the Bnei Brak area, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFPeople protesting public transportation on Shabbat on December 15, 2019.(photo credit: KOBI RICHTER/TPS)
Six people were arrested for disrupting public order as they were trying to block a main road to prevent a bus operating on Shabbat to drive by on Saturday in the area of the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, Israeli police said in a statement.On Friday, another ten people were arrested after they attacked police officers who were confronting them as they were also trying to block a main road.At the beginning of November, the Tel Aviv city council approved by a majority of 19 to 6 a public transportation service for Shabbat covering the entire city, as well as other major cities in the central district.Public transportation on Shabbat is mostly prohibited throughout the country, with a few exceptions, but some municipalities have in recent years adopted public transportation services which differ from the legal definition, thus allowing them to bypass the restrictions.The new intercity service comprises six routes along 300 km. and includes over 500 stops linking Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Givatayim, Kiryat Ono and Ramat Hasharon.The buses run every 30 minutes between 6 p.m. on Friday until 2 a.m. on Saturday morning. Service resumes from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturdays.Since the service was launched, it has been considered a striking success by the organizers and on some routes 19-seat minibuses were replaced with larger vehicles because of high demand.On Saturday, several hundred people from the religious-Zionist sector, including several rashei yeshiva – heads of Torah-academies – gathered in front of the residence of Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai to protest the decision of establishing public transportation on Shabbat, channel 12 reported.Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
