At least two protesters were injured as thousands of Haredi men blocked central Israel highways and railroads for about two hours Thursday night in the latest protest against the arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders.

First responders said the two demonstrators, including a 93-year-old, were hit by cars in separate incidents along the central demonstration on Route 4, which passes near the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak and was closed to traffic because of the protests.

The demonstrations in central Israel were called by the extremist Jerusalem Faction, after police on Wednesday transferred to IDF custody 19 draft dodgers who were arrested at a Haredi riot last week outside the home of Supreme Court deputy chief Noam Sohlberg. Similar protests were held outside detention centers in Jerualem and Tel Aviv on Wednesday night.

Many participants in Thursday’s demonstrations were shuttled in from Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and other Haredi population centers.

Traffic on Thursday night in central Israel was already expected to be bogged down by hordes of fans traveling to watch mega-stars Omer Adam and Eyal Golan, as well as Ben Tzur, perform at stadiums in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva, respectively.

Anticipating the chaos, police urged commuters to avoid driving in central Israel. People headed to Ben Gurion Airport were likewise urged to take the train rather than traveling by road.

But by the early evening, trains in Tel Aviv came to a halt after protesters descended onto the tracks. Hundreds of passengers on a train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, many of them headed to the concerts, were forced to disembark at Ben Gurion Airport.

Police announced later that the highways had reopened, and Jerusalem Faction leaders said the protesters were “receiving the order to disperse.”

The Faction, numbering some 60,000 members, regularly holds raucous and violent demonstrations against the military enlistment of yeshiva students and operates a “national alert system” to mobilize wildcat street action when someone spots a draft dodger being........

© The Times of Israel