Haredi protesters blocked highways in central Israel on Monday, in opposition to the arrest of an ultra-Orthodox man for evading service in the Israel Defense Forces.

The demonstrators, all men and boys, shut down the Geha Interchange, at the northeastern entrance to the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv.

They chanted the anti-draft slogan, “We will die and not enlist!”

Footage on social media also showed a crowd of protesters booing an ultra-Orthodox policeman, calling him “the neighborhood screw-up.”

Channel 12, reporting from the scene some two and a half hours into the closure, estimated the demonstrators to number no more than 200.

Police had warned of traffic disruptions in and around Bnei Brak ahead of the demonstration, which was organized by the extremist Jerusalem Faction.

The organizers said they were protesting Sunday’s arrest of a Bnei Brak yeshiva student who failed to enlist in the military. Police discovered he was a draft dodger after he was stopped in Haifa by fare inspectors on public transportation, according to reports.

The protest on Monday was the first major anti-draft demonstration in weeks, ending a period of relative quiet over the past month that coincided with yeshivas’ summer break.

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Lawmaker Aryeh Deri, meanwhile,........

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