Officer brutalizing protester
Photo: Avishalom Levi
Policeman indicted of attacking protesters
Right-wing activist files complaint against policeman he saw brutalizing girl at Jerusalem anti-pullout protest in May; after probe, Police Investigation Unit to press charges
The Police Investigation Unit has decided to press charges against Police Superintendent Yehiel Amsalam for attacking two protesters during a demonstration against the disengagement in Jerusalem last May.
According to allegations, Amsalam used unnecessary force, partially strangling and twisting the arm of a female protester and kicking Avishalom Levi, 25, in the face.
After the incident, Levi complained to the Justice Ministry’s Department for Police Investigations. According to Levi’s account, as protesters blocked a main street leading into Jerusalem, Amsalam grabbed a girl, brutally pushed her and pinned her to a wall. He then held her against the wall, twisted her arms, strangled her, and then dragged her away.
Levi claimed that when he witnessed the police officer’s “malicious behavior” towards the girl, he approached him to read the details on his badge, and the policemen grew angry and kicked him in the face. The kick, Levi said, propelled him down some stairs and into the street.
Levi, a Jerusalem resident, told Ynet: “I saw this policeman strangling a girl, yelling at her and dragging her, and then twisting her arm and slapping handcuffs on her wrists. Then I saw him tackling someone else,” Levi continued. “He jumped on him along with other police officers and cuffed him too. I took pictures, and then when I went up to him to read his badge, he kicked me in the face and I flew backward. He broke my jaw.”
As for the decision to press charges against Amsalam, Levi commented, “I don’t understand why it took so long.”
Efrat Weiss contributed to this report
