The Israeli Police have given their final approval for a massive protest to be held Thursday afternoon at the entrance to Yerushalayim, in response to the continued imprisonment of yeshivah bochurim, including talmidim from Yeshivas Ateres Shlomo, among them Ariel Shamai.

The event, which organizers are calling a “million-man march,” is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of participants from across the country.

Sources told B’Chadrei Chareidim that the final police authorization came following an additional meeting between representatives of the organizing committee and the Jerusalem District Police.

Preparations for the protest include the closure of major routes, from the entrance to Yerushalayim, along Sarei Yisrael and Bar-Ilan, continuing through Kikar Maran, with police bracing for massive crowds expected to fill the area.

According to organizers, the demonstration will be held without a formal stage or sound trucks, in keeping with the tone of tefillah and hisorerus that rabbanim have called for.

Gedolei Yisrael from the Litvish, Chassidish, and Sephardic communities are expected to take part, with tefillos to be recited from a central balcony that will serve as the symbolic focal point of the gathering.

The protest comes amid growing outrage over the government’s continued enforcement of the draft decree and what chareidim say are escalating efforts to criminalize limud hatorah in Eretz Yisrael.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)