Akko mayor: Riots' instigator fled to territories
Shimon Lankry says man responsible for inciting Yom Kippur riots in northern city has escaped from Israel. Police continue pursuing guilty parties with 78 people arrested, four indictments filed so far
Akko Mayor Shimon Lankry said Sunday that "the man who announced at the city's mosques that there were peopled injured in the city's eastern neighborhoods, thereby igniting the riots on Yom Kippur Eve, has fled to the territories."
Speaking at a press conference announcing the a $200,000 donation made to the city by the Jewish Agency and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Lankry noted that another man, suspected of driving youths from Akko's Old City to the eastern neighborhood, had also fled the police.
The Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel, demanded over the weekend that Akko's Arabs residents, who suffered severe property damage during the riots, be recognized by the Treasury victims of hostilities and compensated accordingly.
More than 100 vehicles, 80 stores and 30 homes were damaged during the riots, and five houses were burnt to the ground. Property owners – both Jewish and Arab – would be unable to claim restitution for the damages unless the State deems them victims of hostilities.
Police forces arrested three Akko Jews on Friday, on suspicion of vandalizing cars during the riots. Seventy-eight arrests have been made since the onset of the riots and four suspects have already been indicted for vandalism, disorderly conduct and arson.
