Hundreds of Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jews protested on Tuesday to voice their religious objections to planned autopsies of two babies who died in an incident at an unlicensed nursery in Jerusalem a day earlier.Israeli doctors declared the babies dead after medics evacuated 55 children from the daycare centre in an area of Jerusalem inhabited by members of the ultra-Orthodox community, though they have not yet specified a cause of death. Israeli media reported that the incident could have been connected to the daycare’s heating system, suggesting heat exhaustion and dehydration as possible causes.A supreme court ruling reportedly issued Tuesday afternoon appears to have blocked the post-mortems, but not before unruly protest scenes broke out on Tuesday in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities, according to police.An AFP photographer in Jerusalem reported seeing dozens of demonstrators scuffling with police, who used water cannon and smoke grenades against the crowd.”Rioters are setting fire to and rolling dumpsters, causing extensive damage to infrastructure, attacking and clashing with civilians and police officers, and blocking trains and vehicles in an attempt to disrupt daily life,” a police statement said.Certain hardline sections of the ultra-Orthodox community disagree with autopsies, saying any interference with a dead body is a desecration according to the Torah. The protests first sprung up late Monday over a Jerusalem court ruling allowing autopsies to be performed on the two babies’ bodies. But Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported that the supreme court overturned the lower court’s decision on Tuesday after an appeal from the families of the deceased children.Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews had taken to the streets of Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and Bnei Brak on Tuesday to protest the planned post-mortems. Police said they arrested 11 people during protests in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, “including a rioter who bit a police officer”.In a separate statement, they said one protester had been hit by a vehicle and was “evacuated to hospital in moderate condition”.Police also reported that a driver in Jerusalem was “attacked by rioters” but was removed from the scene unharmed, sharing a video of around 200 ultra-Orthodox men surrounding a car. Kan reported Tuesday that two caregivers at the centre were being held on “suspicion of reckless manslaughter” and that their detention had been extended until Thursday.Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 14 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, or about 1.3 million people.
Hundreds of Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jews protested on Tuesday to voice their religious objections to planned autopsies of two babies who died in an incident at an unlicensed nursery in Jerusalem a day earlier.Israeli doctors declared the babies dead after medics evacuated 55 children from the daycare centre in an area of Jerusalem inhabited by members of the ultra-Orthodox community, though they have not yet specified a cause of death. Israeli media reported that the incident could have been connected to the daycare’s heating system, suggesting heat exhaustion and dehydration as possible causes.A supreme court ruling reportedly issued Tuesday afternoon appears to have blocked the post-mortems, but not before unruly protest scenes broke out on Tuesday in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities, according to police.An AFP photographer in Jerusalem reported seeing dozens of demonstrators scuffling with police, who used water cannon and smoke grenades against the crowd.”Rioters are setting fire to and rolling dumpsters, causing extensive damage to infrastructure, attacking and clashing with civilians and police officers, and blocking trains and vehicles in an attempt to disrupt daily life,” a police statement said.Certain hardline sections of the ultra-Orthodox community disagree with autopsies, saying any interference with a dead body is a desecration according to the Torah. The protests first sprung up late Monday over a Jerusalem court ruling allowing autopsies to be performed on the two babies’ bodies. But Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported that the supreme court overturned the lower court’s decision on Tuesday after an appeal from the families of the deceased children.Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews had taken to the streets of Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and Bnei Brak on Tuesday to protest the planned post-mortems. Police said they arrested 11 people during protests in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, “including a rioter who bit a police officer”.In a separate statement, they said one protester had been hit by a vehicle and was “evacuated to hospital in moderate condition”.Police also reported that a driver in Jerusalem was “attacked by rioters” but was removed from the scene unharmed, sharing a video of around 200 ultra-Orthodox men surrounding a car. Kan reported Tuesday that two caregivers at the centre were being held on “suspicion of reckless manslaughter” and that their detention had been extended until Thursday.Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 14 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, or about 1.3 million people.
