Police arrest Anarchists at protest outside home of Army Commander

Tuesday August 05, 2008 22:17

by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli police attacked dozens of peace activists, members of the Anarchist movement in Israel, who were staging a protest in front of the home of Israeli Army Colonel, Aviv Reshef, in charge of Ni’lin area in the West Bank on Tuesday afternoon. 25 protesters were arrested.

Photo by ActiveStills

The police claimed that the protesters clashed with policemen who arrived at the scene.

The anarchists were protesting the killing of an 11-year old Palestinian child who was shot and killed by army fire last week.

Reshef had, just a few days before the killing, been merely “reprimanded” for an incident in which a soldier under his command shot and wounded a bound Palestinian youth in Bil'in village. Reshef stated in a hearing that he did not order the soldier to shoot the bound youth.

The youth, who was already wounded, was shot at close range by a rubber coated bullet while he was bound and blindfolded. The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories B’Tselem released video footage of the incident.

The footage was filmed by a young Palestinian girl from the village. Soldiers later arrested her father as an act of revenge.

During the funeral of the child on Monday, Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades, rubber coated bullets, tear gas and rounds of live ammunition at the residents. An Israeli military commander claimed that the Palestinian blocked a main road and that the army “used all riot dispersal means”.

Tuesday's protest in Israel was carried out around 6 in the evening when nearly forty protesters arrived in front of the home of Reshef. The police arrived at the scene and ordered them to leave.

Israeli police sources claimed that the protesters refused to leave and attempted to move closer to the officers’ house. The police arrested nearly 25 peace activists and took them to a police station for questioning.

The police force issued a statement in which it did not deny aggressive behavior carried out by the police but stated that they acted due to an order from the Attorney General which strictly bars any protests in front of homes that belong to Israeli Army officers.