Shabbos Riots: What Really Happened?

The recent shabbos demonstations.

Firstly, take a look at this picture.

Three cameramen. That means at least four reporters taking pictures. These events were well covered. There are hundreds of pictures out there, circling the internet. It's on all the news sites internationally. Whatever happened was caught on film for posterity.

Now, if you read the articles on quite a number of sites, and especially the blogs, you'll discover that in addition to just being dragged around, the protesters got violent. Stones, glass bottles, used diapers, anything you wouldn't normally touch on a shabbos afternoon is suddenly a fair weapon. This raises some serious issues. Firstly, what are all these religious Jews doing protesting chillul shabbos, whilst being mechalel shabbos themselves? Secondly, what are these normally placid folk doing acting like Palestinians?

So let's see for ourselves. It seems reasonable that we should be able to instantly back up these reports with some great videos, live action of the animals in full swing, hundreds of stone-throwing hooligans. It's all on film, right?

So take a look now at a sampling of videos:

Australian News:
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200907/r394610_1846815.asx

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2009/06/28/2610535.htm

Arutz 2 (Youtube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ2w2eTWLVU&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpQIFoSJDj8&NR=1

Arutz 2 (Chadrei Chadarim)
http://www.bhol.co.il/tv/?clip=290

IBA News (Jerusalem Post)
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1194419829128&pagename=JPost/Page/VideoPlayer&videoId=1245924950425



Did you see it? The mob?

Or did you blink and miss it?

Well, I manages to find a couple of kids throwing something. But no more than that.

So what happened? Did everyone blink simultaneously, and that's when it happened? Did all those cameramen kindly turn their backs just for the best parts? I can promise you that if I would have been one of those reporters, I would have given anything for a picture of hordes of swinging dirty diapers.

It's a big challenge to prove something from lack of evidence. But I suspect this stoning business is far overrated. Sure, some kids (under 16) threw a few things. Maybe after shabbos, they threw a little more. But I just don't go for this riot story. And I think the diaper claim is an outright lie.

Watch the videos again. You'll see a lot of protesters getting knocked around by the police, seemingly randomly. But what do you actually see the protesters doing? Shouting. That's what protesters do.

So please. Prove me wrong. Send me some links to pictures or videos showing adult chareidim throwing stones at one of these recent demonstrations, say three or four people together.

Because if you can't, you might want to consider very carefully who you trust for your information, and which lies you feel comfortable spreading around.