Thousands of Gur Hasidim Rally Outside Military Prison as Protests Over Draft Arrests Spread

Thousands of Gur Hasidim gathered this morning outside the military detention facility known as Prison 10 in the Sharon region to accompany the Gur Rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, who came to visit a Hasid detained there. It was the first time the central figure of the Gur movement and one of the most important authorities in United Torah Judaism's Hasidic council visited a prison.

The scene marked another sign that protests over the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders are moving into the religious mainstream. Until now, such visits had mostly been made by Lithuanian yeshiva heads, especially from the more extreme Jerusalem Faction, rather than by a leading Hasidic rebbe.

Earlier in the day, Lithuanian Haredi protesters from the faction blocked Route 4 and were forcibly cleared by police. After the dispersal, demonstrators accused officers of excessive force, saying one protester had his pants torn. The main complaint was that police used batons and stun grenades, tactics protesters said had not been used in previous demonstrations, including road blockades by the Kaplan protest movement against the government.