Zealots Stone Buses Again, Eight Arrests Made

Police arrested eight persons last night after a day of stone-throwing and demonstrations by religious zealots and a series of scuffles between them and non-religious youths. The target of the zealots’ stones and invectives were Egged buses, despite the fact that they have stopped running altogether on the Sabbath and take pains to keep away from the ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim quarter even after the Sabbath. Three buses were stoned after nightfall yesterday. In late afternoon, about 50 members of the Neturei Karta sect, led by Rabbi Amram Blau, marched out of the Mea Shearim quarter chanting “Shabes” at passing cars. They were followed by non-religious youths who jeered at them and later mounted a counter-demonstration against religious coercion.

The youngsters, blue-shirted members of the Mapam youth movement. Hashomer Hatzair, carried placards demanding “an end to religious hooliganism.” They passed out leaflets accusing the stone throwers of trying to intimidate the public and of “seriously disrupting essential public services.” After nightfall, several score religious men and boys blocked the Mea Shearim main street with a garbage truck which police removed. A police jeep was hit by stones.

In Tel Aviv yesterday. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan’s film actor-director son Assaf was prevented by police from shooting sequences of a film on a street in the religious quarter. The police were summoned by Orthodox Jews who objected when young Dayan set up his cameras on a street corner Saturday morning. Police ordered the camera crews to pack up and leave because Dayan had failed to obtain a permit to work on the Sabbath.