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Photo: Tal Shahar
Sharon police commander Kobi Shabtai
Photo: Tal Shahar

Police did nothing to stop rioters, local residents say

Israelis from Sharon region accuse police of being afraid of Arab protesters who blocked central artery in Sharon region.

Rioters near the Arab town of Tayibe in the Sharon region blocked a main road in the area and the police ignored it, even failing to warn approaching drivers of the dangers ahead, local residents said Monday.

 

 

Among those criticizing police actions was Moshe German, the 49-year-old Israeli driver who was attacked Sunday night at the entrance of Tayibe.

 

"I travel on Route 444 all the time," said German. "On the road I saw a police car blocking the road and I thought that there had been an accident. I carried on driving - and the police did not stop me or tell me anything."

 

Masked men stopped German on the road, pulling him out of his car in what appears to have been an attempted lynch. He managed to escape the scene with the help of local residents who pulled him away in the nick of time, and the attackers then set his abandoned car on fire.

 

German had been was visiting friends in the town and was on his way home when he was attacked. "I have worked with people from the Arab sector all my life. I have good relations with so many of them. I cannot believe something like this can happen. It was very scary. I can only hope this doesn't happen again, to anybody."

 

The protesters, many of them masked, blocked Route 444, the central artery used by tens of thousands of motorists every day. Police, the local residents furiously claim, stood by at a distance from the road blocks and did not intervene.

 

Police block the road in the Sharon region
Police block the road in the Sharon region

 

 

"If the police are afraid, then those officers should look for new jobs. This is a main road that we use, not a road in the Palestinian territories. How is it possible that in the State of Israel a central road is closed for hours because of public disturbances?

 

 

"The police stood to one side and did nothing," local residents said. "They are not functioning. They are standing to one side and doing nothing. What do we have police for?"

 

Police have been at a heightened level of alert since Sunday, following protests across the country over the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old Arab Israeli who appeared in video footage that later emerged to be retreating from police.  

 


פרסום ראשון: 11.10.14, 12:55
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