Silwan: Boys hurl rocks at police

Nearly two dozen youths have been arrested in the past two weeks for throwing stones in Silwan.

By MELANIE LIDMAN
Four youngsters threw rocks at Border Police officers in southeast Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood on Monday morning and were arrested.
The patrol was able to disperse the remaining rock-throwers.
RELATED:Robinson, Carter encourage non-violent Hamas Minor from Silwan stoning video placed under house arrest
There were no injuries or damage.
Nearly two dozen youths have been arrested in the past two weeks for throwing stones in Silwan. The Knesset’s Committee for the Rights of the Child held a special hearing to discuss the appropriate way to deal with boys who throw rocks.
On Sunday, B’Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Wadi Hilweh information center in Silwan released a joint statement encouraging Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich and Israel Police Insp.-Gen.
David Cohen to change the procedures for arresting and investigating minors.
“This petition was issued following the frequent and serious complaints that reached the organizations in the past years, which have intensified in the past few weeks with the situations where the police has implemented problematic procedures, especially in relation to children suspected of throwing rocks,” the organizations said in a statement.
They accused the police of interrogating children as young as eight, though the “age of criminal responsibility,” when police can take children for questioning is 12.