Today Patrick, Aaron, Miriam, and I were hanging out in Patrick and Aaron's apartment in the center of town. Their apartment is part of the Ethiopian Consulate building, and right on the border of Mea Shearim, a well known Ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. We were just sitting around when we heard shouting outside, and it grew louder and louder until finally we ran to the window to discover crowds of Ultra-Orthodox Jews in the streets chanting "Shabbat, shabbat", surrounded by a few police cars. I guess they were protesting the cars that were driving through their neighborhood on Shabbat. Driving is strictly prohibited for the Jews on the Sabbath and every once in a while the Ultra-Orthodox Jews will throw rocks at the cars and wreak havoc. I pulled out my video camera but had to keep it hidden so the Jews didn't stone me as well (any sort of technology is prohibited on Shabbat), so unfortunately it is a crummy video where you can't really see any action, but just know that there is a large crowd of Jews and police at the end of the street. We missed the worst of it, but we did hear a thud, police sirens immediately after, and a sudden scattering of the Jews as they ran away.
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