An estimated 4000 Orthodox Jews shouted and pounded their fists against passing buses in the central square outside the Mea Shearim quarter this afternoon in a noisy but otherwise peaceful demonstration to protest the jailing of two yeshiva students convicted of fire-bombing the “Eros” shop in Tel Aviv.
Police were on hand in large numbers to enforce a ban against a protest parade through the city which an Orthodox group, calling itself the “Committee for the Preservation of Israel’s Sacred Heritage,” had applied for Sunday.
The objects of the protest were Shmuel Wiesenstern and Israel Brand, both 19, who were arrested last July and subsequently convicted of throwing a fire-bomb into the “Eros” shop. The pair comes up for sentencing Oct. 1. Police today made no effort to disperse the crowd but prevented it from spilling into the streets leading from the square. No arrests were reported.
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