Sapir Sluzker-amran

Women arrested outside Lapid's home claim beaten by police

Protester says officer directed degrading remark at her and, as her friend tried to photograph him, realized gravity of own actions and resorted to violence

Gilad Morag |Published: 06.30.13 , 19:51

Two women who were arrested Saturday night for protesting outside the home of Finance Minister Yair Lapid in Tel Aviv, where they allegedly attacked police officers, said on Sunday they were the victims of police violence, not the aggressors.

Sapir Sluzker-amran claimed in a Facebook post she was accosted by police officer S. who inquired whether she and her friend Carmen Elmakiyes Amos had come to the rally to "get laid." She said she and her friend tried to inquire after his name and photograph him with their phones, but encountered robust opposition from S. and his fellow officers, who stormed at the women, seized them and arrested them.

Related stories:

Sluzker-amran, who spent the night in a detention cell, added to the Facebook post photos showing bruises allegedly inflicted on her friend by police officers. In spite of the storm the post has provoked on social media, the women have yet to file a complaint with the Justice Ministry department that investigates police misconduct. However, the women's lawyer said such motion is forthcoming.

Police maintain the women confronted the police officers and attacked them.

Sluzker-amran wrote in her post that "I've never felt such fear and helplessness as when I stood with my friend in a small grove behind Lapid's home. We went there at the end of the rally to check whether there were any protesters left there when we saw about 10 policemen. A few of them made a few remarks at us and blinded us with a flashlight; when we asked them to stop they just laughed, and then one of them looked at me and asked me whether we are here to get laid. This drew uproarious laughter from his colleagues and he repeated his question in a number of ways. I froze on my feet."

Slotzker-Amran claimed that at this point her friend took out her cellular phone and started taking pictures of the officer, asking him to identify himself. "He seized the phone by twisting her arm, and hurled it far away. She went off to search for the phone and the officer, who apparently realized the gravity of his deeds, chased her and beat her up. I was behind him and entreated him to stop."

"He then apparently slipped but blamed his fall on the two of us, and then the entire gang split into two: Some pounced on my friend, who was already lying on the ground, while three or four of the others shouted at me 'wait and see the things we'll do to you.' I stopped in my tracks and then three policemen pinned my head to the ground and touched my private parts – apparently as part of the procedure of arrest – and twisted my arms."

Police responded in a statement saying "the policemen conducted themselves with restraint during the protest. Only when one protester put a phone into the face of an officer, and another attacked him, the two were detained. The two were questioned overnight and released. We recognize no other claim regarding the events. In any event, they can appeal with the Internal Affairs Division.

The Saturday rally outside Lapid's residence saw some 80 people gather to protest the austerity budget, including tax hikes and cuts to social services, put forth and implemented by the finance minister.