Jerusalem – Police have arrested a haredi man from Ramat Beit Shemesh who was videoed hitting women with a pipe as part of a vigilante ‘modesty patrol’.

The man can be seen in the video ordering the horrified women to “go home” on the eve of Yom Ha’atzmaut while menacingly wielding a rubber pipe. The clip went viral in Israel, racking up hundreds of thousands of views and causing an outcry on social media.

On Saturday night, the man was arrested by police, who told the Behadrei Haredim website that he was well known to local authorities due to his radical activities. He was released shortly after on bail and police have opened an investigation.

Ramat Beit Shemesh has been the center of increasingly divisive battles over the past few years as a large influx of radical haredim have battled with the Religious Zionist and secular residents over the city’s nature.

