Ultra-Orthodox Area in Jerusalem Sealed Off

Riot-equipped security forces virtually cordoned off the largest ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood here over the weekend, beating back sporadic attempts Friday night and Saturday by religious demonstrators trying to march into the city center to protest what they regard as violations of the Sabbath.

Police and paramilitary border guards, backed by water cannon and mounted patrols and reinforced by units from as far away as Haifa, also dispersed demonstrations in a dozen other religious neighborhoods Saturday, Israel radio reported.

The ultra-Orthodox, who account for about 30% of Jerusalem’s Jewish population, were demonstrating against the showing of films on the Sabbath by four theaters in the city. The showings began quietly at two of the theaters last spring, but what has become known as Jerusalem’s “Sabbath wars” only began early this month after city authorities refused Orthodox demands to shut down the theaters.

Small clashes between police and religious demonstrators Friday night were followed by much larger protests Saturday afternoon in response to a call by ultra-Orthodox leaders to “come out into the streets” in support of their demands.

Standing behind metal police barricades deployed around the perimeter of their neighborhoods, hundreds of Orthodox protesters shouted “Shabbes! Shabbes!” (Yiddish for Sabbath) and called the security forces “Nazis” and “criminals” for opposing them. Many in the crowd were children.

Film broadcast by Israeli television Saturday night showed some religious demonstrators throwing rocks at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon. The perimeter of the big Mea Shearim religious neighborhood on the near-north side of town resembled an area under martial law through much of the weekend, with scores of army jeeps and police vehicles parked in plain view and foot patrols of up to a dozen men keeping tabs on possible trouble spots.

Jerusalem Police Commissioner Yusef Yehudai ordered the security forces to use all necessary force. But as of Saturday night there were no reports of any injuries or fresh arrests in the confrontation.

On Friday night, five men said to be members of the right-wing Kach movement headed by Rabbi Meir Kahane were detained after a scuffle with secular counterprotesters. They were released within hours, according to police.

The weekend clashes came despite the intervention last Thursday of President Chaim Herzog, who asked secular and religious leaders alike to show restraint.

Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem did persuade the owner of one large commercial theater complex not to join the four smaller movie houses in opening on Friday night. And he has named a committee to find additional Sabbath entertainment outlets that would not offend the religious.

The religious community sees film showings as a desecration of the Sabbath and claims that no theaters in the city should be open on Friday night or Saturday under a so-called “status quo” agreement limiting Sabbath entertainment in Jerusalem.

But an increasingly restive secular population in the capital asserts that the status quo, worked out in the 1950s, needs to be updated for the late 1980s. They charge that ultra-Orthodox pressure amounts to coercion aimed at turning the entire country into a theocracy.

The result has been the most serious secular-religious tension in the city in several years, with both sides warning that bloodshed could easily result if the police ever lose control.