Police use tear gas, water cannon to clear out Haredi protesters against Jerusalem light rail

Police are using tear gas and a water cannon to disperse a protest at the intersection of Jerusalem’s Bar Ilan and Yirmiyahu streets, where hundreds of Haredi men rallied against the planned expansion of the light rail to the area, footage shows.

Haredi officials have expressed concern that the public transit expansion will hurt the ultra-Orthodox character of the area.

In one video from the protest, a man exhorts the crowd in Yiddish to safeguard “the sanctity of Jerusalem.” Protesters respond with yells of the Yiddish interjection “Gevald.”

לקראת ליל מהומות בירושלים: מאות חרדים קיצוניים נוהרים כעת מאזור כיכר השבת אל יעד לא ידוע וקוראים למסור נפש על קדושת ירושלים. pic.twitter.com/C6YOaTC3UF

— זירת החדשות (@ZiratNews) September 8, 2026

Police say they have declared the protest illegal after “disruptors” tried to “cause damage and intermittently block traffic routes.”

מכתזית מנסה לפנות את המפגינים בהפגנה היומית נגד הרכבת ברחוב ירמיהו בירושלים pic.twitter.com/l01gQld4WF

— השטיבלאך (@Hashtiblach) September 8, 2026

Officers “are using force, including a water cannon” and other means to disperse the crowd, police say.

A similar demonstration in the same area last night was also forcibly dispersed by police.