Rabbi Amram Blau, leader of the fanatical “Neteurei Karta, ” and 11 of his Yeshiva pupils were arrested today when they tried to prevent a police search in the Mea Shearim district for Orthodox girls failing to register for national service.
Today, the tenth day of Teveth, had been proclaimed by Orthodox groups as a day of prayer and protest against implementation of the national service law provisions under which Orthodox girls, exempt from military service on religious grounds, have to perform other forms of national service.
The authorities, however, began to round up national service act evaders today, sending civilian and military police units into the religious districts. An area was cordoned off in the Mea Shearim quarter opposite the Slonim Yeshiva to which apprehended suspects were brought.
Several hundred Orthodox men and women, led by Rabbi Blau, began a demonstration and liberated some of the prisoners. Police reinforcements dispersed the demonstrators and made several arrests. About 100 youths subject to national service were taken into custody.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
