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Last update - 19:46 19/05/2008
Rights groups accuse police of brutality during ****ba protest
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/984991.html
Activists and Arab rights organizations are accusing the Israel Police
of brutality against protesters during a procession marking ****ba day
10 days ago in a pilgrimage to the abandoned village of Saphoria in
Tzi****i.
****ba day, meaning "day of the catastrophe" is an annual day of
commemoration for the Palestinian people of the anniversary of the
creation of Israel in 1948 (on the same day Israelis celebrate
independence), which resulted in their displacement from their land.
At a press conference held Monday, the activists presented video
footage and photographs showing police officers beating journalists
and even sma****ng the head of one of the protesters who was already
handcuffed and sitting on the ground.
The police officers and the protesters clashed toward the end of the
procession. Officers fired tear gas grenades into the crowd, which, in
turn, hurled stones at the officers and passing vehicles.
According to the Arab organizations, the conflict began when the
police officers tried to steer the protesters, who were carrying
Palestinian flags, away from the shoulder of the road. Eye witnesses
told Haaretz that this occurred after several verbal requests to stay
away from traffic went unheeded.
Thirteen Israeli Arab citizens were arrested in connection to the
clashes at the demonstration, and they were all later released without
charges. In the remand hearing of the one of the detainees, the court
rejected police allegations that Saada Abu Hatoum hurled stones at
police officers before he was arrested, saying that a video tape
presented by Abu Hatoum's representatives disproves the police claims.
"This tape refutes the version presented by the petitioners and
therefore I don't think that there is sufficient suspicion to justify
his arrest," the judge wrote.
The tape revealed that Abu Hatoum, a news editor for "Shams" radio and
a volunteer with Arab human rights organizations, videotaped an
incident in which a police officer kicked another detainee in the
face. After that, officers chased him to arrest him, ignoring his
calls that he was a journalist. The video footage that he filmed was
erased by the police when they confiscated his cell phone, Abu Hartoum
said Monday.
Additional photographs and video footage filmed at the scene revealed
that other photographers and journalists were attacked by police
officers, including the CNN correspondent in Israel.
The Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and the
Arab Association for Human Rights are planning to submit a re****t on
the incident and demand that the Police Investigations Department look
into the events.
Attorney Fahim Daoud of the association said at Monday's press
conference that "I thought that the military regime was behind us, but
I was wrong. The police have the same attitude toward Arabs as back
then, and act like a political party."
The Northern District police rejected the allegations that the
violence was premeditated and issued a statement that preserving the
public's freedom of expression is the police's highest priority.
According to the police, the organizers of the procession were unable
to comply with the police guidelines, despite their efforts, and could
not control the protesters who began to act out while spilling into
traffic on the road. The police added that the unruly crowd forced
them to close off the road, in order to protect the drivers.
The police also responded to the allegations by declaring that the
protesters hurled stones at the police forces, wounding several
officers, among them a district commander. Several of the officers
required hospitalization, the police said.
The police maintained that the crowd dispersal methods they used to
subdue the unruly protesters were used within the confines of the law,
but added that the protesters had every right to ask the Police
Investigations Department to investigate the incident.
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