Violent riots broke out tonight (Monday) at the Beit Shemesh police station, following the arrest of a young Haredi man, a resident of the Haredi city of Beitar Illit, suspected of being a deserter from military service.
According to the police statement, the riots began after the military police took the suspect from the scene.
As a result, hundreds of Haredim gathered outside the city's police station, and some even broke into the station compound and set fire to vegetation near it.
The deserter himself was transferred to the care of the investigating military police and transferred to the Anatot camp.
The police cleared the traffic lanes outside the station and arrested 8 protesters, on suspicion of rioting and attacking police officers.
Liran Tamari, the police correspondent for Yedioth, wrote: "Two hours of clashes in Beit Shemesh. A psychotic event in which hundreds of protesters broke into a police station and 2-3 were arrested. The police's helplessness is indescribable. Oh, and only now, after two hours, did they bring in Makhzit. The district commander? Not in the field. The Beit Shemesh station commander should start the morning with a dismissal letter. But still, we are in the State of Israel, so we shouldn't exaggerate.".
Following the arrest of a deserter: Haredi protesters broke into a police station in Beit Shemesh; police disperse them with stun grenades and tear gas
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Yisrael Beiteinu Party Chairman, MK Avigdor Lieberman, responded to the riots: "The government of evasion normalizes riots and attacks on the police by thugs disguised as observant Jews and succumbs to violence.
""In no case was even a single indictment filed against those rioters who attacked police officers, burned and damaged property.
""The time has come to end the evasion. In the next government, indictments will be filed against all the rioters and they will go to prison.".
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