New video from Route 4 near Bnei Brak shows police throwing smoke grenades, then running toward protesters and beating them with batons with heavy force. The footage also shows Rabbi Yaakov Markovitch, the brother of Ponvezh Yeshiva head Rabbi Shmuel Markovitch, trying to persuade Ramat Gan-Bnei Brak police station commander Lt. Cmdr. Yuval Shavit to calm the situation. Markovitch spoke to Shavit for a long time, and the commander replied, “We will do everything in coordination.” Minutes later, police began striking the demonstrators, according to the report.
Earlier, the Jerusalem Faction said it gives full backing to the protesters who were arrested and injured during the Route 4 demonstration. It warned that if, in its words, police violence continues, it will file a petition to the High Court of Justice against the conduct of the commanding ranks. The faction said, “No use of force will break the spirit of the protesters,” and pledged to use legal channels against those responsible if the police response continues.
At the same time, MK Meir Porush sent an urgent letter to the chairman of the National Security Committee, MK Zvika Fogel, demanding an emergency session with senior police officials over the events. Porush said there is a major gap between how police treat Haredi protests and how they handle other demonstrations. He argued that while the police showed months of restraint toward left-wing road blockages, this time they used exceptional force.
Porush wrote that the Route 4 evacuation “crossed every red line” and was meant not to preserve public order, but to pressure and intimidate through force. He said he had received many testimonies and recordings describing direct stun grenade fire at people sitting on the asphalt, baton blows, and aggressive dragging that left injured protesters bruised and bleeding, with torn clothing. He demanded that police commanders appear soon before the committee and account for what he called selective enforcement.
