Jerusalem, Israel +Parade Gets Go-Ahead

Jerusalem, Israel Israel’s attorney-general turned down a request by Jerusalem police to call off this week’s parade.

Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz ruled that the parade, which has drawn threats of violence from fervently Orthodox protestors, could go ahead Friday, but he ordered organizers to confer with police on changing the route so as to reduce friction with Jerusalem’s religious communities.
Dozens of fervently Orthodox Jews in Mea She’arim rioted at the news that the parade was to proceed, blocking off the city’s Shabbas Square with burning trash cans.

The Eda Hcaredis leadership said that although it opposed violent demonstrations, it could do nothing to stop them. Rabbi Moshe Sternbach, head of the Eda Hcaredis Rabbinic Court, said he had specifically ordered his followers not to use violence. "I said 'don't give blows,' but the public is really angry and cannot control itself."

Shmuel Poppenheim, editor of Ha'eda, the mouthpiece of the Eda Hcaredis, said that the rabbis called on their followers to everything in their ability to disrupt citizens' lives. "But everyone knows not to do anything prohibited by the Shulhan Aruch," said Poppenheim.
"Most of the public listen to the call to wear sackcloth and smear ashes on themselves, pray that the abominable march will be canceled and scream gevalt. There is nothing we can do about a few people who lose control."