Riots continued in Jerusalem for the third day as ultra-Orthodox Jews protested the arrest of a mother suspected of starving her son, Jerusalem Post reports.
Haredi rioting in Jerusalem over the arrest of a woman suspected of nearly starving her three-year-old son to death showed no sign of abating on Thursday afternoon, with police being forced to evacuate welfare workers from their office in the Geula neighborhood as haredim pelted the building with stones. No one was wounded and no damage was reported in the latest incidents.
Simultaneously, haredi protesters burned tires and hurled stones at passing vesicles on Shivtei Yisrael Street. No one was wounded, but a windscreen was smashed. In addition, 15 other demonstrators protested outside Hadassah Ein Kerem, where the boy is currently hospitalized.
Protesters erupted Thursday in various parts of the city.
The riots Wednesday led to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat closing municipality offices in two neighborhoods and withholding services until workers did not face a security threat, it reports.
Haaretz reports that the woman at the center of the protests was arrested on suspicion of starving her son for months.
The 30-year-old woman, who is ultra-Orthodox and belongs to one of the most extreme sects in Jerusalem, was arrested for allegedly starving her three-year-old son over the course of two years, it was announced Tuesday. The boy, who weighs about seven kilograms, is hospitalized in serious condition.