Five Israeli police officers were injured on Sunday in clashes with ultra-Orthodox protesters protesting coronavirus restrictions in cities across the country.
Police reported five officers injured and at least four arrests as crowds of ultra-Orthodox protesters confronted agents in multiple cities in Israel. The Associated Press reported.
Israeli law enforcement has been mostly reluctant to crack down on people in the ultra-Orthodox community for non-compliance with COVID-19 requirements, including by reopening schools, praying in synagogues, and holding grand weddings and funerals.
But on Sunday, agents faced the crowd of protesters who spoke out against the restrictions.
In Bnei Brak, young men challenged the police and threatened reporters, causing an officer to shoot his gun in the air to scare the crowd, the AP said. Two days earlier, ultra-Orthodox protesters had attacked a police vehicle in the city.
Law enforcement officials used tear gas and rotten-smelling water to dismantle hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protesters who sat outside a reopened school calling the police “Nazis.” Dozens of protesters also faced police in Ashdod outside of an ultra-Orthodox school.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu MORE condemned disobedience to the restrictions of the coronavirus, saying that a small minority of people behaved in an “unacceptable” manner.
“I expect all citizens of Israel to respect the security guidelines,” he said, according to the AP. “That includes all sectors, including the ultra-Orthodox.”
Israel has one of the highest infection rates of any country in the world, with an average of more than 8,000 cases confirmed per day. Health experts have attributed the virus’s recent spread to the lack of compliance among the ultra-Orthodox community.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, Israel has recorded nearly 600,000 COVID-19 cases and nearly 4,400 fatalities.
COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the ultra-Orthodox community, which makes up more than a third of Israel’s cases and makes up just over 10 percent of the population.
The increase in cases could jeopardize the success of Israel’s vaccination effort after the country vaccinated more than a quarter of its 9.2 million residents, the AP said.
The protests also come when Netanyahu announced that the nation will close its international airport to nearly all flights from Tuesday to January 31. Exceptions will be made for a small number of humanitarian cases and cargo flights.