Secular activist arrested for distributing provocative photos at haredi protest
A secular activist was arrested for distributing sexually suggestive photos during a demonstration by haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters in Jerusalem on Saturday.
Yishai Pulvermacher, one of the organizers of an anti-religious coercion counter-protest held every week, signed an agreement to stay away from the haredi protest area and from the weekly counterdemonstrations for two weeks.
The Israel Police issued a statement saying it will continue working to preserve the safety and security of all “law-abiding normative citizens.”
The secular group “Free Jerusalem” has staged demonstrations nearly every Saturday for the past three months as a counterprotest to the ultra-Orthodox “Shabbos protests,” at which many children are often in attendance.
On Saturday, dozens of Free Jerusalem demonstrators showed up at the group’s weekly counter-protest.
While haredim shouted, “You Nazis, leave our neighborhood,” secular demonstrators played music through a megaphone, which is forbidden on Shabbat, according to Jewish religious law.
Later, at the intersection of HaNevi’im and Dvora HaNevi’a Streets, Pulvermacher threw photographs – some of which included pictures of women kissing other women – at haredi protesters.
Pulvermacher told The Jerusalem Post during Saturday’s protest that secular demonstrators were using the strategy because they had exhausted all other effective actions.
“We are trying different ways every Saturday. But they are not people who you can talk reason with. They are not playing according to the rules,” he said.
Pulvermacher said the aim of the provocative photos was to deter parents from sending their children to the protests.
“We want to touch their sensitive point without really hurting them,” he said. “I want them to get scared to send their children here every Shabbat.”