http://www.wnbc.com/news/8470269/detail.html
NEW YORK -- Hundreds of angry Hasidic Jews poured into the streets in Borough Park Tuesday night, snarling traffic and setting fires to protest the arrest of a senior member of their community.
The elderly man was arrested after being stopped for talking on his cell phone while driving, according to police. The man refused to hand over his license and registration, and the officers arrested him after a struggle, police said.
Police added that when they tried to take the man into custody, other people in the area interceded.
The arrest sparked an uproar in the Borough Park community, with irate men in traditional Hasidic garb packing the area around 47th Street and 16th Avenue, the intersection where the man was arrested. At least two bonfires burned after protesters ignited piles of cardboard boxes. Men threw more folded boxes onto the flames to make them stronger.
Police in riot gear arrived on the scene after Hasidim surrounded a cruiser, trapping an officer inside. The officer called for help when one of the windows was broken.
Shortly after the riot police arrived the protest lost intensity, but groups of men still milled about in the streets. The NYPD also dispatched a helicopter to the area to light up the streets with a powerful beam.
At one point, the mob blocked the passage of a tractor-trailer and a fire truck trying to put out one of the fires. A few scuffles broke out where protesters were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the street.
Police said they initially cleared officers from the area to avoid further provoking the protesters.
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