(JTA) — Animal rights activists protesting a pre-Yom Kippur ritual involving the swinging of a chicken were assaulted in the northern Israeli city of Hadera.
Six of the activists, five women and one man, were lightly wounded in the incident Thursday night when city residents threw stones and other objects at the protesters.
Police did not intervene during the demonstration, which according to the IBC was conducted legally with permission.
Some residents targeted the protesters from the balconies of their homes, the Israel Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday. A video of the incident in Hadera, about 28 miles from Haifa, showed a fire extinguisher being hurled at the protesters.
The residents were partaking in the ancient practice of kapparot, in which swinging the chicken around one’s head supposedly purges a Jew of sins. Some believe the ritual is cruel.
The meat of the chicken is donated to charity following the rite, which some Jews perform using money in place of a chicken.
