JERUSALEM — Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews staged mass demonstrations Thursday over a Supreme Court ruling forcing the integration of a religious girls school.
Protesters snarled traffic in Jerusalem and descended on another large religious enclave, crowded onto balconies in city squares and waved posters decrying the court’s decision and proclaiming the supremacy of religious law. There were a few small scuffles.
It was one of the largest protests ever here and a stark reminder of the ultra-Orthodox minority’s refusal to accept the authority of the state. Parents of European descent, or Ashkenazi Jews, at a girls school in the West Bank settlement of Emanuel don’t want their daughters to study with schoolgirls of Mideast and North African descent, known as Sephardic Jews.
The Ashkenazi parents insist they aren’t racist but want to keep the classrooms segregated, arguing that the families of the Sephardic girls aren’t religious enough. Israel’s Supreme Court rejected that argument.
Police said about 100,000 people converged in downtown Jerusalem and another 20,000 demonstrated in the central city of Bnei Brak. The Associated Press
