Large crowds gathered at the Kosel this morning for Rosh Chodesh tefillos as tensions flared once again over the activities of the Women of the Wall group, whose members reportedly smuggled a Sefer Torah into the plaza in violation of existing regulations.

According to witnesses, members of the Reform-affiliated activist group raised the Sefer Torah in celebration after successfully bringing it into the women’s section of the Kosel plaza.

At the same time, hundreds of seminary students arrived at the site following longstanding guidance issued years ago by Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman zt”l encouraging participation in counter-demonstrations opposing the activities of the group commonly referred to as “Women of the Wall.”

Large police, Border Police, and riot-control forces were deployed throughout the Kosel area in anticipation of confrontations between the sides.

Police officers reportedly clashed with demonstrators during the morning, and one chareidi girl was arrested and taken to a police station located at the site.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people participated Friday in a large Shacharis minyan held specifically in the southern section of the Kosel plaza, the area at the center of ongoing legal and political disputes regarding efforts to establish a permanent Reform prayer space there.

Participants brought a mechitzah and conducted a traditional tefillah as part of what organizers described as an effort to strengthen the Jewish and traditional character of the site.

Those who attended said the decision to hold the tefillah specifically in the southern plaza symbolized the broader struggle over the future character and sanctity of the Kosel.

Participants also explained that the choice of location was intended “to declare in a clear voice — the Kosel belongs to all the Jewish people, but its holiness is not ownerless.”