Saturday Film Screening Sparks Israel Protest

Thousands of Orthodox Jews demonstrated outside an auditorium showing “Lassie Come Home” on Saturday in a protest against film screenings that religious Jews say desecrate the Sabbath.

An estimated 3,000 Hasidic men and boys from the religious enclave of Mea Shearim protested in front of the auditorium where about 40 people, mostly children, watched the matinee.

Security sources said five men were arrested after protesters threw rocks and bottles at police guarding the auditorium.

‘Witness’ Clash

The demonstration came less than 24 hours after police fired tear-gas on several dozen devout Jews brawling with secularists outside a Friday midnight showing of the film “Witness.”

At issue is whether movie theaters and other entertainment establishments can conduct business on the Jewish Sabbath, which starts at sunset Friday and runs until after sundown Saturday.

City bylaws forbid commercial entertainment but allow “cultural events” on the Jewish day of rest.

Counterprotest Staged

The protesters, wearing traditional fur hats and black silk coats, walked the 20 city blocks from their religious enclave to the site where the “Lassie” movie was being shown. They were met by 100 counterprotesters.

The religious Jews hissed “Sabbath” in Yiddish as they stood outside the theater in 90-degree heat.

About 100 yards away, members of the leftist Citizens Rights Party held up signs proclaiming “Jerusalem Is Also Ours” and “We Won’t Let You Shut Down the City.”

‘Live and Let Live’

“For years, the municipality, with the heavy pressure of the ultra-Orthodox, made this city into a dead place on Friday nights and Saturdays,” said Knesset member David Zucker, one of the protest leaders.

“The issue here is: ‘Is it live and let live or is there religious compulsion?’ ” Zucker said.