Orthodox Jews Celebrate Purim on streets of Jerusalem

Description

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews dressed up in costumes and took to the streets of Jerusalem to celebrate Purim on Sunday, despite the coronavirus restrictions and curfew in place in Israel. Groups of unmasked men drank and danced to a van's music in the streets of the Mea Sharim neighbourhood, seemingly ignoring social distancing measures while hugging each other in a street party. The government had put an additional night-time curfew in place from 25 to 27 February between 20:30 and 05:00 local time (18:30 to 03:00 GMT) to prevent large social gatherings specifically for this event, which many residents ignored. Israel's ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, community has been hard hit by the coronavirus with members repeatedly protesting and flouting restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the virus and prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed. The Middle Eastern country has already vaccinated around 50 percent of its population against the coronavirus and has one of the highest vaccination rates per capita, although the rate among some age cohorts of the Haredi population is lower than the national average.