Three detained at protest in Armon HaNatziv

Sunday, September 20, 2015, 10:32 On the night of Saturday, September 19, after Shabbat, three protesters were detained at a demonstration held by residents of the Armon HaNatziv neighborhood in Jerusalem and the adjacent neighborhoods. The demonstration was held to protest against the severe security situation and the terror attacks on Jews in the area.
The three detainees, aged 40, 18 and 16 were taken to the Oz Police Station in Armon HaNatziv and then transferred to the nearby Shalem Police Station in the Bab al-Zahara neighborhood where Honenu attorney Rehavia Piltz arrived to assist them.
The detainees reported that they were detained separately and violently by the same police officer. One of the detained youths told Piltz that the police officer announced to the protesters that the demonstration was illegal. Then the youth asked the officer to have the police escort him to his home, which is located at the edge of the neighborhood, close to the center of the Arab disturbances. The youth said that the officer responded by brutally detaining him.
The other detained youth claims that the officer severely beat him, even though he held his arms in the air after he was informed that he was being detained in order to prove that he was not behaving violently. An eye witness corroborated the youth’s statement in a conversation with Piltz. The detainee also claims that the police officer threatened to “ruin his life”. The detainee suffered scratches to his back and his shirt was torn.
The 40 year old detainee told Piltz that he arrived on the scene to pick up his nephew from the demonstration. When his nephew told him that the police officer had beaten him, the uncle approached the officer and requested the officer’s personal information so that he could file a complaint about the violence. According to the uncle, the officer gave him the information and then informed him that he was being detained. The uncle said that he told the officer that he had not committed any violation of the law and added that he had recently undergone transplant surgery. Despite showing the officer his stitches as proof of his recent operation the officer roughly threw him into the police car.
Honenu reports that all three detainees were released overnight from the police station.
Honenu attorney Rehavia Piltz stated that, “Instead of understanding the plight of the Armon HaNatziv residents faced with the powerlessness of the security forces who are not dealing with the Arabs rioting in their neighborhood, the police sent a violent officer in order to intimidate them and discourage them from protesting and expressing their grievances.”