Shopfronts lay shattered yesterday and rubbish bins still smouldered in the centre of Jerusalem after four nights of violence that, for once, had nothing to do with the broader Middle East conflict.

The riots, perpetrated by Jews and directed against Jews, were triggered by the arrest of an ultra-Orthodox woman who authorities claimed was starving her child.

Hospital cameras had filmed the woman removing a feeding tube from her three-year-old son. Doctors suggested that she might be suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychiatric condition in which the person harms or abuses somebody close to draw attention to themselves.

However, rabbinic authorities have refuted the doctors’ theory, and the resulting disagreement has pitted the city’s secular and religious Jews against one another. Within hours of the mother’s arrest leaflets began to pass through Jerusalem’s religious community claiming that police had singled her out because she was religious and that the hospital had been treating the child for cancer. Women were seen sobbing over flyers stating that hospital workers were attempting to “snatch” babies.

“We don’t have weapons, we don’t have tanks, we don’t have policemen or jails,” Shmuel Pappenheim, a spokesman for the protesters, said yesterday. “But we are sending in our army to save a family, to save a Jewish mother who is raising five children with love and warmth.”

Tensions between city officials and Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Jews, who make up nearly a third of the city, have run high since Nir Barkat won the mayoral election in November.The man he defeated had been sympathetic to the ultra-Orthodox population.

Mr Barkat has taken several decisions that are unpopular with the ultra-Orthodox population, including opening a municipal car park for tourists who visit the city on the Sabbath. Thousands of protesters took to the street and pelted vehicles with rocks when it was opened this month.

Aharon Franco, the Jerusalem police chief, attacked the ultraOrthodox leadership for failing to quell the rioters. “There is not one sane voice within the community that will rise up and cry out against this phenomenon,” he said. “They have rabbis, they have a leadership, but I haven’t heard any of them speak out.”

Tensions between devout and secular Jews have been simmering for decades, especially in Jerusalem.

Israeli TV yesterday continued to broadcast images of religious youths — most thin, more acquainted with hours of study than the tough ways of the street — nervously crowding Jerusalem’s street corners.

Nevertheless there was some hope that a compromise might have been reached to avoid further violence before the Sabbath today.

In court yesterday a judge agreed to release the mother of the toddler into the custody of a rabbi on condition that she undergoes psychiatric evaluation and pays bail of 400,000 shekels (£63,000).

Times Recommends

• It’s only Brits who don’t appreciate me, says Blair
• Party’s over for Greek graspers
• White House tightens security for Xmas marathon