Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli police say they have arrested an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man for demanding women move to the back of a bus, sparking protests that saw bus windows smashed.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says Wednesday's incident occurred in the devoutly religious neighborhood of Beit Shemesh. He says ultra-Orthodox demonstrators in the neighborhood smashed the windows of three nearby buses while protesting the arrest. There were no injuries and no further arrests.
Ultra-Orthodox practice forbids men from touching women, except for their wives, and calls for separating the sexes in public. In recent years, however, hard-liners in the insular ultra-Orthodox community have tried to forcefully impose their will on others.
The ultra-Orthodox represent less than 10 percent of Israel's Jewish population, but they have tremendous influence in politics.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
