Haredi men again clash with cops outside Jerusalem cafe to protest its opening on Shabbat

8 August 2026, 12:09 pm

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Haredi men protest outside the Basimta cafe for opening on Shabbat while secular counterprotesters stand in front of them, in Jerusalem on August 8, 2026. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Dozens of Haredi men clash with cops outside central Jerusalem’s Basimta cafe, in the sixth straight week of ultra-Orthodox demonstrations against the cafe for operating on Shabbat.

Police are deployed in advance and maintain a wider perimeter around the cafe than on previous Saturdays to prevent a repeat of chaotic scenes seen last week, when protesters tried to force their way into the cafe itself.

Secular activists, including Yair Golan and members of his left-leaning Democrats party, flocked to Basimta this morning, with some forming a human chain to keep the Haredi protesters from approaching the cafe, footage shows.

Haredi protesters can be seen yelling “Shabbos,” while secular counter-protesters chant, “Shabbat belongs to all of us.”

Hebrew media reports that some people standing on porches near Basimta lobbed plastic bags full of water at secular people who came to the cafe.

The recently opened cafe has become a flashpoint in Jerusalem, where vanishingly few cafes operate on Shabbat. Police on Thursday announced the arrest of a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of having hurled a bag of feces at Basimta.