Some men with carpenter tools smashed Hasidim camp in Uman

Thirty men armed with carpenter tools attacked the Hasidim camp in Uman. They destroyed the fence and promised to demolish the camp. All this happened a few days before the mass Hasidim pilgrimage to their shrine–the tomb of Rabbi Nachman and celebration of the New Year – Rosh Hashanah.

Hasidim called the activists’ action a provocation, according to TSN video.

Several dozen people came on Saturday at noon, during the Sabbath, at a time when Hasidim are the most vulnerable.

Then the so-called activists turned on the generator and using hand tools set about destroying everything around: they toppled power line poles and beat the surveillance cameras.

They promised to return in three days, when the first pilgrims arrive.

Leiser Hirshboym, Chairman of Uman Jewish Association, recalls that a Hasidim camp emerged there for the first time at this place more than ten years ago. The camp was set up for a few days and then dismantled. Eventually, the city authorities issued all necessary documents and helped deploy a stationary camp. While the reporters had a tour of the camp, the attackers’ chief appeared outside the fence. Locals call him Vulya. On seeing the camera, the man tried to escape.

Vulya could not explain what the harm Hasidim did to him, but the decision to demolish the fence was adopted collectively without a trial. The Hasidim are waiting for the first pilgrims in a few days and hope that the conflict will die out, but they call the Saturday event a provocation against Ukraine.