Israel Police, haredi protesters clash at Jerusalem cellphone store

Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters clashed with Israel Police officers in Jerusalem on Sunday during a demonstration against a cellphone store in the Geula neighborhood, police said.

The protesters were throwing bottles and other objects at the store as well as at police officers, who were trying to block the protesters from getting closer. One officer was lightly injured as a result and Border Police troops have been called in to help disperse the riot after the protesters refused orders to do so.

Two suspects have been arrested so far.

Calling on chaos? Why do haredim protest a Jerusalem cellphone store?

This isn't the first time haredim have protested cellphone stores, or even this specific one.

On March 16, over 300 haredim demonstrated outside this store, located on Malkhei Israel Street.

Protesters and police also clashed outside this store back in January. At the time, police claimed the haredi protesters were making "cynical" use of small children in the front lines of the protest to block traffic as they stormed onto the road illegally.

The reason for the protests is that the community is against the presence of a non-kosher cellphone store in the area.

Kosher phones used by the haredi public are designed to prevent their users from accessing the Internet in any capacity, and, originally, phone services with sexual content.

Approved devices are all “dumb phones,” meaning they have no Internet access, can only make and receive calls, have no camera, and cannot even receive SMS messages.

The phone numbers themselves are also distinct, and have specific digits after the company’s prefix so that if someone calls from a service not approved by the rabbinic committee, it will be immediately apparent that the caller does not have a supervised phone number and device.

The rabbinic committee, which controls the kosher phone users' ability to switch services, only approves certain companies and blocks phone numbers from its customers, meaning members of the haredi community were not able to keep their numbers assigned to the kosher phones even after buying a smartphone.

This is a developing story.