Mostly Quiet At OROT Except One Arrest

I went early this afternoon down to Bet Shemesh to be a part of the group that would show a presence outside the school, to lessen the intimidation, to make sure nothing happens, so the kids would not be so frightened, and to show solidarity with the parents who are under a lot of pressure.

I went with a few other guys, and we got to the school just before it let out. They told us not to be right by the school, as only parents should be there, but to spread out along the sidewalk where the kids need to walk to get to their bus lines or to cross the street or whatever.

The police were there in full force today. They had about 20 "Yasamnikim" on site along with the cops and a bunch of people that looked to be undercover and in street clothes. I was pretty sure with a showing like that today would most likely be uneventful. I could not imagine anybody starting a scuffle with those kind of forces present.

Shortly after we got spread up the street, a group of about 15 or 20 of these kannoim came up from a path behind the buildings. The police were very aggressive today, most likely because they are feeling pressure form the national government as people are getting ministers and government officials involved and showing them some of the videos from previous days, and made sure to keep everyone separate, The kannoim were told to stay within a certain area next to the building and the rest of us were told not go there but to stay along the sidewalk where the kids were walking.

All was good and quiet. People were chatting, parents and other adults were walking kids, and the kannoim were in their group chanting kinos and insults (mostly "shiksa", "pritzus", "temeai'im" and "rotzchim"), but each side was leaving the other alone.

Just as it was coming to an end, one of the kannoim got himself arrested. He did not even really do anythign, but the police were aggressive today. They were screaming at people from both sides with little provocation, making sure nothign would happen. This one guy left his area, I did not even see that so I am not sure where he came from. He might have come from the other direction. he parked himself right near us and was just standing there chanting "prutzim" "temeai'im" over and over again. He was not making threatening motions or anything  just chanting insults. As soon as the police saw, they came and tried to move him over to the area they were supposed to be staying in.

He did not exactly cooperate and they had to drag him over. Then he sat himself down on the ground. I don't know what happened after that, but a few moments later they had three or four cops surround him and lift him up and carry him to the paddywagon.  Meanwhile the chants from the other kannoim were getting louder as they watched their friend being dragged away, and they started waving fists.

And then it was all over. And we went to daven mincha by the school.

The police did a good job today keeping things quiet. Hopefully the whole thing will die down quickly.