A male secular youth, becomes outraged and hits Ultra-Orthodox man who asked woman to move to back of Jerusalem bus.

Police are searching for assailant who is still unknown and are considering interrogating the haredi ‘victim’ for ‘women exclusion’.

By Noam (Dabul) Dvir

A secular man hit a haredi who asked a woman to move to the back of a bus traveling in Jerusalem on Thursday.

(Illustration) Photo – EPA

According to suspicions, the secular youth punched the man in the face and pulled his beard before fleeing the scene. A complaint has been filed with the police, and a search for the suspect is ongoing.

The 54 bus line, in which the incident took place, is not considered a ‘haredi’ line, though it passes through the predominantly haredi neighborhood of Givat Shaul. The woman boarded the bus in the neighborhood and sat at the front, but the haredi man reproached her and asked her to move to the back.

It was then that the secular youth allegedly decided to respond and assaulted the haredi, who was later treated by Magen David Adom paramedics for a nosebleed.

The bus’ passengers contacted the police, which started canvassing the area for the suspect and took the haredi man to the station to file a complaint.

Police deposed the woman, who said that she was asked to move to the back, but that the haredi man did not insist on it forcefully. The police are currently examining whether the woman’s testimony can be used as a complaint against the haredi for women exclusion.

Last week a riot erupted in Beit Shemesh against the backdrop of another instance of women exclusion. Haredim lobbed stones on two buses and shattered the windows of another bus with hammers, following the arrest of a couple who demanded a woman to move to the back of a bus.

View original Ynet publication at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4415480,00.html