Times of Israel:

Thousands of residents of the southern city of Ashdod protested on Saturday against the closure of businesses in the city on Shabbat.

The demonstration comes week after the Knesset passed a law granting the interior minister the power to override city bylaws allowing mini-markets to open on the Jewish day rest. Critics of the legislation decried the religious decree, while proponents of the law said it was necessary to maintain the longstanding status quo in Israel regarding businesses operating on Shabbat.

During the protest in Ashdod, demonstrators accused the city’s municipality of discriminating against secular residents and engaging in “religious coercion.”

“We came to return Ashdod to Ashdodians,” demonstrators chanted, according to Hadashot TV news. “We aren’t against the religious, but we say to the ultra-Orthodox members of Knesset: ‘Get your hands off Ashdod.'”

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