Tensions between Arad’s ultra-Orthodox community and secular residents escalated on Sunday evening after hundreds of Gur Hasidim took to the streets and repeatedly crossed a central pedestrian crossing, causing traffic disruptions and heavy congestion across nearby roads. Police were monitoring the scene as the demonstration continued.
The protest followed the release earlier in the day of a yeshiva student who had been arrested last week in a case unrelated to military conscription. The unrest is tied to the arrest of a Gur couple on Friday night. Police are investigating suspicion that their baby was taken to hospital after suffering an injury, and have opened a probe into possible deliberate harm or neglect.
Community members say the infant fell off a sofa and argue the arrest was mistaken and amounted to harassment of the father, which triggered the protest wave in the city. The demonstration intensified after the yeshiva student was freed.
Arad Mayor Yair Maayan had earlier defended the right of Gur Hasidim to demonstrate, saying in a morning statement that “they are citizens of the State of Israel and residents of Arad like everyone else” and that “there will be no second-class citizens in Arad.” But after the afternoon chaos, he reversed course, calling the scene “anarchy in the streets of Arad,” describing the protesters as “criminal rioters” and urging Police Commissioner to deploy Yasam riot police immediately to restore order.
