There have been more religious riots in Jerusalem, pittingultra-Orthodox Jews against the secular Israeli government.
Angryultra-Orthodox Jews threw stones, bricks and bottles at police, turningreligious neighborhoods here in Jerusalem into what looked like a warzone. Demonstrators overturned trash bins and set them on fire. Policeresponded with water canons and mounted units stormed into the crowd.
Riotserupted three days ago, after police arrested an ultra-Orthodox womanfor alleged child abuse. She is accused of starving the child, butRabbi Yitzhak Kirschenboim says that is a lie.
The rabbi toldthe crowd that the accused woman is devout, and that the secularauthorities are persecuting the religious community.
"We are stronger than the police," he said, "and we will fight until the last drop of blood."
Israel's Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said violence will not be tolerated.
Hetold Israel Radio that all those who throw stones and disturb thepublic order will be punished with the full force of the law.
Theriots point to a rift in Israeli society between the ultra-Orthodox andthe secular Jewish majority. Many of the ultra-Orthodox areanti-Zionists who believe that the Messiah alone can establish a Jewishstate and that it must be governed by religious law.
Religiousriots began last month, when the Jerusalem Municipality opened aparking lot on Saturdays. That angered the ultra-Orthodox who believethat driving is a desecration of the Sabbath. The violence has angeredsecular Jews who describe it as "religious coercion." They say thatIsrael is a modern, democratic country where religion is a matter ofchoice.