Binyamin Brigade base arrestees released

Saturday night, April 28, 23:43 Nine of the youths arrested on Friday (April 27) at the Binyamin Brigade base were released just before Shabbat. Cell phones were confiscated from some of the youths, and therefore they were unable to inform their parents of their release. None of them were able to return home before Shabbat due to the late hour.
It should be noted that in the past the police have arrested parents on the grounds that they sent their children to outposts or were present at outposts with their children, claiming endangerment and neglect of minors – a situation which describes the conduct of the police in releasing minors several minutes before Shabbat in a dangerous and hostile location with no means to return to their homes.
Additionally the manner in which the youths were released raises doubts concerning the considerations behind the speed and manner of the IDF spokesman’s announcement. This is not the first time that it seems that political considerations are behind the announcement of the IDF spokesman.
The youths reported during their interrogation that they had wanted to hold a quiet, nonviolent protest against the policy of the IDF in Yehuda and Shomron in general and in Ramat Migron in particular, which they did. “They always tell us that we should hold quiet protests; but when we did, we still were arrested,” said the youths.
The mother of one of the arrested youths responded: “A short time before Shabbat the police phoned us and informed us that our son had been released. The interrogator Haim Toledano added that they knew that the boys were going to Ramat Migron for Shabbat and that there was no reason to worry. We asked the interrogator if they were going to drive the boys to the site and they answered ‘No, but the site is close enough for them to walk.’ Needless to say, a half-hour walk in a dangerous place such as that is a cause for worry. In the end we were left in a state of uncertainty and concern for the entire Shabbat. The conduct of the police in response to a quiet protest, holding children until shortly before Shabbat and then releasing them in a manner in which they are unable to reach their homes or another community, is criminal and scandalous conduct. The police could have shortened this superfluous interrogation or alternatively summoned the children for interrogation on a different day as is customary in case which are not urgent, as with this interrogation.”