Haredim in Bnei Brak block cars from accessing secular neighborhood ahead of Sabbath

The entrance of a secular neighborhood on the outskirts of the predominantly ultra-Orthodox town of Bnei Brak was blocked off Friday evening just before the Sabbath.

Images from the Tel Aviv suburb showed dumpsters and other objects in the middle of roads to prevent motorists from driving there during the Sabbath. One video showed a group of ultra-Orthodox residents who were standing by debris blocking the road crowding around a police cruiser that arrived at the scene.

The dumpsters were unloaded from trucks before the start of Shabbat, according to the Haaretz daily, which quoted a resident of the area as saying that one of the drivers told her the municipality sent them.

“What happens if there is a fire?” a resident of the area told the newspaper. “There is going to be a religious war in the neighborhood and the police cannot cope.”

Secular residents called the police, who arrived at the scene, but indicated to residents that it would be difficult to remove the roadblock due to the “complex situation,” Channel 12 news reported, suggesting that law enforcement sided with the Haredi extremists.

Army Radio, however, cited police as saying they were dealing with the roadblocks, while Haaretz reported that after several hours a police volunteer cleared the dumpsters, though other barricades remained in place.

החרדים מעלים הילוך במאבק על התנועה לשכונת מתחם הסופרים בבני ברק, בה מתגוררים גם חילונים. היום, לראשונה, הוצבו מכולות על הגשר המוביל לשכונה מכיוון דרך אם המושבות, כדי למנוע את התנועה אליה וממנה. תושבת מספרת שנהג משאית שהוריד את המכולות במקום אמר שהוא נשלח בידי העירייה pic.twitter.com/g9Nrp2mEc3

— Yair Foldes (@Yair_Foldes) August 28, 2026

The incident in Bnei Brak followed several other recent disturbances involving ultra-Orthodox radicals, including demonstrations against the arrest of draft dodgers and rioting over the expansion of the Jerusalem Light Rail.