Nearly 20,000 fervently Orthodox Jews demonstrated in Jerusalem against ongoing archaeological excavations near the town of Modi’in in central Israel.
The demonstrators held a prayer vigil Sunday, which included an invocation that the hands of the archaeologists involved in the dig be cut off.
Demonstrations erupted near the site last week after the remains of a burial cave, with links to the Hasmonean period, were uncovered.
Protesters said removal of bones found at the site defiled Jewish graves.
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