'I could barely breathe'
Police accused of violence against anti-pullout protester; photographs show complaint lodger being choked by officers
TEL AVIV - A complaint has been lodged with the police internal investigations unit on Wednesday, charging police with violent conduct against anti-disengagement protestors at the recent demonstration at the Kissufim roadblock.
Choking caught on camera
A further complaint was lodged against the commander of the Lachish police district, Effi Mor, in which he is accused of personally hitting demonstrators.
Elad Cohen (18 ), of Netzar Hazani, arrived at the demonstration on Saturday afternoon. According to his testimony, he was struck violently and humiliated by three policemen. A photographer at the scene took pictures of the incident, and the images have been attached to the complaint.
“A number of vehicles were stopped on the way the Kissufim roadblock, and drivers were asked to produce identification,” said Cohen, who has returned to demonstrate at the same spot since the incident.
“We didn’t want to present ID so they took us out of the cars. We stood on the road and then they started beating us," he said. "
"They pushed me up against a car, and then two policemen grabbed me and one of them choked me. They even told me not to yell. I could barely breathe at this point. After that they threw me to the other side of the street.”
Following the incident, Cohen decided to return to the roadblock every evening, to prove to the policemen that he was not scared off by their violent tactics.
‘Not scared’
“I don’t usually arrive at these demonstrations, but after what I experienced, I am at this roadblock every night. Tonight will be my fifth night. We’ll show them that they don’t frighten us with their violence," he said. "We’ll arrive, we’ll take hits, and come back the next night. I believe that our presence there helps.
"We are coming to convince soldiers and police to refuse orders, and we can see that the soldiers are starting to break," Cohen said.
He added that if protestors wanted to respond with violence, they could overcome the police, but the time for this still hasn’t come.
“I’m not a weak guy and neither are many of my friends, veterans of elite units. We could have taken them apart but we absorbed the violence quietly. When the day that the order goes out, they’ll get what’s coming to them. They won’t know what hit them. People won’t be able to control their emotions," he said.
The photographer who was at the scene, who chose to remain anonymous, says she saw police officers behaving violently against Cohen, and that she yelled at them to leave him alone, but when they did not respond, she chose to record the incident.
“I realized that I have in my hands an instrument that can help and I started photographing. In a previous incident, my friend yelled at a policeman to stop hitting a teenager and she was punched in the stomach for that," she said.
"I know Elad personally, and he is a gentle person,” said the woman.
