Riots Erupt in Jerusalem over Unearthing of Bones

Just as Jerusalem police were trying to restore quiet in the Old City following a grenade attack there Monday that killed an Arab shopkeeper, riots broke out Tuesday in the western part of the capital.

The demonstrators were not Palestinians but haredim, or fervently Orthodox Jews, who were protesting archaeological digs on alleged gravesites.

The digs are being carried out in the French Hill neighborhood, in an effort to save archaeological findings before a new road is built in the neighborhood.

The haredim have charged that the excavations are desecrating old burial caves.

In the haredi neighborhood of Mea Shearim, rioters threw stones and eggs at vehicles, including police cars, overturned garbage bins in the middle of roads and set them on fire.

At least one woman complained that her car was badly damaged by angered religious Jews and that she had been beaten as well.

Police dispersed the demonstrators by force. At least 15 haredi demonstrators were reportedly detained.

The riots continued until late Tuesday evening. When quiet was finally restored, large police forces remained at hand to maintain the calm.

Following the riots, Rabbi Moshe Maya, deputy minister of education, asked Education Minister Shulamit Aloni to halt all activities involving the “Second Temple graves,” which are about 2,000 years old.

Aloni was reportedly “looking into the request.” But sources at the Antiquities Department declared earlier this week that the archaeological digs would continue unhampered.

The sources claimed that haredi leaders were well aware of the fact that the entire French Hill neighborhood was built on top of Second Temple burial caves.