JERUSALEM (JTA) — Fervently Orthodox Jews protested the Saturday operation of Intel’s Jerusalem computer chip plant.
Up to 2,000 protesters demonstrated Saturday in front of the factory.
The demonstrators attacked journalists covering the protest, as well as Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Yitzhak Pindrus, of the fervently Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, whom they accuse of selling out to the secular establishment.
The company’s security guards used pepper spray against some of the protesters, who broke through barbed wire fences installed to deter them.
The new plant, which employs 150 people, opened last Friday ahead of a dedication ceremony on Sunday.
"This plant will operate in accordance with our business needs and the law, including on Saturdays," Intel spokesman Koby Bahar told Ha’aretz.
"I condemn the acts of violence, which will achieve nothing, and hope the sides reach an understanding," Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said Sunday at the factory’s dedication ceremony.
"I am a staunch supporter of the status quo and co-existence in the capital. Intel has been operating in Jerusalem for the past 24 years under the same format," said the mayor, "I will continue working for the company’s success and expansion, and towards bringing additional high-tech companies to the capital."
