The owners of a religious bookstore in Jerusalem's "ultra-Orthodox" Mea She'arim neighborhood have decided to accede to the demands of an extremist group called Sikrikim, which had accused the store of "promoting immodesty." The Jerusalem Post reported that since Ohr Hachaim/Manny's opened in March 2010, "the group has smashed its windows more than a dozen times, glued its locks shut, thrown tar and fish oil at the store and dumped bags of human excrement inside. The owners were also personally threatened multiple times."
Although police arrested a central figure in the attacks in September and the shop increased protective measures, a large demonstration outside the store last weekend proved to be the turning point for the owners and they agreed to a compromise.
Marlene Samuels, one of the store's managers, said the bookshop will "put up a large sign requesting that all customers dress modestly. A mashgiach, who checks the store's inventory to make sure there are no controversial books, will go over the books in the coming week and require that some books be removed from the shelves, though they will not be permitted to remove any English books," the Post wrote.
"In the beginning, the owners thought it would stop, that it was temporary, but it didn't stop, it got worse and worse," said Samuels. "[When] the police started to make arrests and became more active, it quieted them down, but it didn't stop them, and it's never going to end 100%."