There were hafganos around the country this week after police arrested a talmid yeshiva for not reporting for the draft. Being a follower of HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Auerbach Shlita and his Yerushalmi faction, the bochur yeshiva did not even go to a draft office and register as is required.

Amid some violent protests instructions have been released for talmidei yeshivos not to set garbage bins ablaze during protests, an act that is often seen during protests at Jerusalem’s Kikar Shabbos. The HaPeles newspaper, which is affiliated with the Yerushalmi faction, on Wednesday morning 3 Iyar calls for not setting garbage bins ablaze, explaining that doing so “harms the cause” on behalf of the arrested bnei yeshivos.

The column adds that as far as inquiries have shown, there is no justification for arrests at protests, even if they result in interfering with traffic. The column adds “Experience has shown anyone arrested at such protests is released expeditiously with the exception of when police request, albeit under false pretexts, that protestors engaged in exceptional activities like rolling or setting garbage bins ablaze, throwing rocks and objects and etc.

The column quotes legal experts stating such “exceptional activities” are harmful and participants in these legitimate protests should refrain from such actions and you should realize that protests that bring people to the streets and intersections have a great effectiveness in their own right because of the environmental impact, especially police are tied up and cannot justify arrests of participants who express their democratic right, even if traffic is occasionally blocked.

“In light of this, burning garbage bins and such acts including throwing items complicates things including from a legal perspective and one arrested for this faces the possibility of a prolonged lockup and legal complications”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)