Israeli police arrest ultra-Orthodox Jews in draft protest

BNEI BRAK, Israel: Israeli police on Thursday said they arrested 30 ultra-Orthodox Jews who threw stones at officers and blocked a main artery near Tel Aviv, in protest against the military draft. A police statement said that protesters cut off the north-south highway 4 in the predominantly ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak in an “illegal demonstration”, the latest of several spurred by arrests of young ultra-Orthodox men accused of dodging military service. An AFP journalist saw demonstrators sitting down or laying in the middle of a neighbouring street and mounted officers riding among them to disperse the crowd while a water cannon sprayed the protesters. “Four police officers were injured lightly after stones were thrown at them,” police said