Hundreds of Israelis staged a protest on Saturday against gender discrimination on some bus routes in ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhoods, where women are made to sit at the back.
Around 1,000 men and women gathered outside the Jerusalem home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, holding up placards reading "Israel is not Tehran" and "Democracy, not theocracy," an AFP correspondent said.
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni sent the protesters a message of support, saying that "those who relegate women to the back of the bus consign them to the edge of society."
On some bus routes through ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhoods of the holy city, women are made to sit at the rear of the vehicles while men are allowed in the front.
Sunday's protest was organised by a coalition of feminist groups who consider that gender separation discriminates against women and reinforces religious coercion.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
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