Haredi protesters riot outside jail to support alleged arsonist of cellphone store
Though Yehoshua Dadon is being held elsewhere, demonstrators throw rocks as they try to break into Ramle Prison, injuring 4 guards and damaging entrance
Michael Horovitz is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel
Haredi protesters on Thursday rioted in front of Ramle Prison in solidarity with a detainee indicted over the torching a cellphone store in Jerusalem last year, and who was being held in another facility.
Demonstrators tried to break into the prison, throwing rocks and causing damage to the entry gate and equipment, the Israel Prison Service said in a statement.
Four guards were injured and required medical attention, the IPS said.
Police were called to clear the rioters.
The IPS said it was not the first such incident, and vowed it would use all legal avenues to bring those responsible to justice
The protesters came to show support for Yehoshua Dadon, 34, who along with three others is accused of breaking into the cellphone store and setting it alight because the shop did not comply with religious strictures restricting the devices.
The resulting blaze in October at Kosher Phone, located in the ultra-Orthodox Geula neighborhood in the capital, affected several adjacent buildings, causing around NIS 600,000 ($170,000) in damages.
Dadon was charged with arson, extortion by threats and obstruction of justice.
4 סוהרים נזקקו לטיפול רפואי אתמול בעקבות הפגנה אלימה של עשרות חרדים קיצוניים מול נציבות בתי הסוהר ברמלה, לאות הזדהות עם העצור יהושע דדון, החשוד בהצתת חנויות מכשירי סלולר במגזר החרדי. המפגינים ביצעו מספר ניסיונות לפרוץ את שער המתחם, זרקו חפצים, אבנים והשחיתו רכוש@hadasshtaif pic.twitter.com/CKKqKe4VXV
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The arrest of the Beit Shemesh resident sparked violent demonstrations in the capital’s Mea Shearim neighborhood in December.
Mirel Dzalovsky, a 40-year-old mother of 11, was seriously injured in the riots after she was hit by a large burning dumpster sent rolling down a street by ultra-Orthodox extremists.
After three weeks of care, Dzalovsky was released from the hospital in January.
Many ultra-Orthodox Jews use “kosher” phones — devices stripped of internet, radio, messaging and video capabilities — on the instruction of rabbis.
The issue and its regulation are largely controlled by a body called the Rabbinic Committee for Communications, which holds strong leverage over the “kosher” cellphone business across the country, as well as powerful tools that have societal and commercial effects.
