Right-wingers beat Haifa deputy mayor during anti-war protest
Roy Arad, Haaretz, Jul 20 2014
Haifa’s deputy mayor and his son were beaten Saturday when right-wing activists attacked left-wingers protesting Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip. It was the second such clash (below – RB) in the northern coastal city in as many days. The right-wing activists had gathered in the area, burned a Plastelinan flag and shouted “Death to Arabs!” They asked a reporter not to photograph them and discussed among themselves whether a man nearby wearing a red shirt was an Arab. They ran toward that man and a second one, some concealing their faces with their shirts. When they heard a police siren they fled, leaving the second man bleeding and bruised on the sidewalk. That man turned out to be Haifa’s deputy mayor, a family physician, Dr Suhail Assad. The right-wingers also beat the man in the red shirt, Assad’s son. Assad said Saturday night by phone from the emergency room at Carmel Medical Center:
They came up to us and asked where we were going. I asked them why and they said ‘because we’re interested,’ and they started beating up my son and me. Four men attacked us. I tried to fight back but I was struck in the face and I fell. They continued to hit my son. Luckily he didn’t fall down, otherwise they would have finished him off. At that point a policeman arrived on a motorcycle, looked at everything and left, but they stopped. Two young women there protected us from them and helped us. They brought us water, and I appreciate it. I’m not used to things like that in Haifa.
Assad filed a police complaint Sunday. The anti-war protest was organized by the Arab-Jewish Hadash party, which Assad represents on the city council. The demonstration drew about 300 people, apparently equally divided between Arabs and Jews. There appeared to be double that number of right-wing protesters, with the police trying to keep the two sides apart. Protesters against the war carried Plastelinan flags and red flags, shouting slogans such as:
Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies!
On the other side, protesters carried Israeli flags and cursed Arab MK Hanin Zoabi, as well as their shouts of “Death to Arabs!” Initially, the war’s supporters threw plastic bottles at the other side. Later, they threw glass bottles. The police did not appear to be trying hard to protect the left-wing protesters. A small amount of tear gas was also used, apparently by the right-wingers. The organizers of the left-wing demonstration called for large signs to be brought forward to be used as shields against the violence. After the tear-gas attack, the right-wingers approached the left-wingers from the sides. They threw stones and shouted expletives as well as “Death to Arabs!” A woman passing by upbraided the right-wingers for their comments. They shouted at her that she “fucks Arabs.” The police then formed a shield around the woman and escorted her away. She said:
I was on Kibbutz Kerem Shalom on the Gaza border last week. I stayed in a reinforced room at Kibbutz Nirim. I endured the sirens and rocket attacks at both places. I was also in Ashdod. But this demonstration in Haifa was more frightening and dangerous, and not just for me.
A police spokesman lauded the Haifa police, whom he said were not aware of the beating of the deputy mayor. He said:
The district police acted as human shields between the two sides, and three policemen were slightly injured in the clashes. The district police arrested 14 suspects from both sides and intend to pursue the case to the full extent of the law. We will not allow demonstrations without permits, and we will treat lawbreakers with zero tolerance.
Since that’s ‘the second such clash,’ let’s have a look at the first such clash:
Activists claim police assaulted MKs and other protesters
Eli Ashkenazi, Nir Hasson, Haaretz, Jul 19 2014
Clashes erupted in Haifa on Friday between demonstrators demanding an end to the operation in Gaza and police. Several protesters and officers sustained light injuries, and 30 people were arrested. MKs from the Arab party Balad claim they were attacked by the police during the demonstration. The head of the Haifa police was assaulted with a club. Some 400 people marched to Peace and Tolerance Square on Ben-Gurion Boulevard in Haifa’s German Colony. The protesters attempted to block the street at which point clashes with the police broke out. MK Basel Ghattas and MK Jamal Zahalka said that police officers attacked them. Zahalka said:
I was assaulted twice, hit in my hips and legs. The police didn’t respect our right to protest and acted brutally. They came to show that they had power, but our fight against the slaughter in Gaza will continue. I intend to file a complaint with the police’s internal affairs department.
MK Haneen Zoabi was handcuffed by a police officer and was released half an hour later by order of the district commander. Haifa police chief Avi Edri, who was attacked by a protester with a club, said that the police would contact the attorney general since, according to him, Zoabi assaulted an officer. One protester, Wadiya Awawda, said:
The police broke up a legitimate rally against the operation in Gaza. We wanted to protest but the police locked us up in a small compound. Children were suffocated and we wanted to leave, at which point cavalry was sent in and attacked us. We wanted to protect someone, and then serious violence began. The police have to understand that we have the right to protest. MK Zahalka was badly beaten.
Police Commander Edri said:
The police allowed the rally to take place even though it did not receive a permit. It was an unauthorized protest. Still, we acted in a balanced manner. I was in contact with the protesters. A number of times this worked out, and a number of times it didn’t. People from outside of Haifa came in with the intention of rioting and clashing with the police. They were arrested only once, when they tried to block the road and assault police officers. What happened was very serious. We will prosecute the offenders to the full extent of the law, and tomorrow we will ask the court to extend their remand.
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav said:
As we expected, members of marginal groups, in the likeness of MK Zahalka and MK Zoabi, accompanied by their followers, came to disrupt the wonderful coexistence in Haifa. I state here that all of us in Haifa, Arabs and Jews alike, will not support any radical group in the city. Haifa refuses to be a hotspot for protests and provocations. Anyone interested in protesting against the global situation of the Middle East should go elsewhere and to the halls of government, not in our city.
On Saturday another demonstration is scheduled to take place in Haifa, with a proper permit, against the operation in Gaza. Police said they expect the rally to encounter a counter-protest by right-wing activists, and that they are prepared to prevent clashes.