Protester accused of assaulting policeman during protest against issue of administrative orders acquitted

Saturday, April 30 22:03 At the end of the week the Ramle Magistrate Court acquitted “M”, the Kiryat Arba resident accused of assaulting a policeman during a protest that took place in front of the Modi’in police station.
The incident occurred approximately two and a half years ago when hundreds of people arrived at the community of Re’ut in order to protest in front of the home of Gadi Shamni, then GOC of the Central Command. Shamni signed administrative restraining orders issued against several residents of Judea and Samaria.
The Modi’in police readied reinforcement forces and blocked the entrances to the community of Re’ut. Anyone who appeared religious was scrupulously examined and dozens were taken to the Modi’in police station. Several bus-loads of protesters were also blocked by police at intersections in the area and taken to the Modi’in police station. The passengers were delayed on suspicion of intent to participate in an illegal demonstration.
Several dozen protesters succeeded in entering Re’ut and some of them even reached Shamni’s house and were detained immediately.
Outside of the Modi’in police station dozens of additional protesters gathered and protested the draconian conduct of the police who detained citizens without due cause.
At the scene conflicts broke out, during which “M” was detained on suspicion of hitting one of the policemen as he was running into a group of protesters.
Honenu attorney David HaLevi represented “M”. At the end of the long trial, during which many witnesses for the defense were heard, Judge Frankel acquitted “M” out of reasonable doubt. During the trial “M” claimed that the policeman bumped into him as he ran into the group and that he was passive.
Honenu attorney HaLevi responded to “M”’s acquittal and said that, “My client’s acquittal speaks for itself. The court ruled that it is impossible to rule out the possibility we raised that this is not an instance of an intentional blow to the policeman as he himself confirmed during the investigation in the courtroom. It appears that proper, not careless, investigation at the beginning could have prevented my client from the hardship entailed in managing the trial.
In any event what should have been done at the beginning by the police and the prosecution was done in the end by the court. We are satisfied that our efforts have borne fruit and that my client was acquitted in the end.”