JERUSALEM (JTA) — Demonstrators held signs reading "Israel is not Tehran" during a protest against gender-segregated bus lines in Jerusalem.
About 1,000 people gathered in Jerusalem’s Paris Square, near the Prime Minister’s residence, Saturday night to protest the so-called Mehadrin lines, which run in the capital city’s ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods and request that women sit in separate sections in the rear of the buses. Separate seating is voluntary, though some women have reported being harassed for sitting in the men’s area.
Other signs called the bus lines "not kosher" and called for "Democracy, not theocracy."
A busload of haredim gathered for a counter protest, according to reports, carrying signs that said "Stop harediphobia" and "separation is a blessing."
The anti-segregation protest was organized by a coalition of feminist groups.
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