A Peleg HaYerushalmi demonstration in Jerusalem protesting a renewed wave of arrests against yeshiva students deemed draft evaders turned sharply violent Thursday shortly after it began.
Police moved aggressively to clear the main traffic routes at the entrance to the capital, with officers documented using stun grenades and striking protesters with batons in what witnesses described as unusually forceful tactics.
In one incident captured on video, a policewoman was filmed grabbing the tzitzis of a young protester lying on the roadway and tearing them off his body.
The demonstration was called in response to what the Peleg faction describes as a new campaign of arrests targeting bnei Torah who have not reported to IDF draft offices. The protests blocked key access roads into Jerusalem, prompting the police response.
