Policeman indicted for Amona assault

Reportedly tried to disperse protestors by charging them on horseback.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
amona horses 298 ap (photo credit: AP)
amona horses 298 ap
(photo credit: AP)
A policeman was indicted on Sunday in a Jerusalem court for assaulting a right-wing protester during the violent evacuation of the Amona outpost earlier this year. The charges filed against Jerusalem police officer David Edri, 34, by the Justice Ministry's police investigations unit were the first brought by the state against a police officer following the violent February 1 evacuation. The terse two-page indictment submitted to the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court says that during the police attempts to disperse demonstrators, Edri, who served with the city's mounted police force, spurred his horse to gallop toward right-wing activist Yehuda Etzion, of the settlement of Ofra, who was talking with a fellow protester, Adiel Mintz, at the time. "Edri galloped his horse toward the complainant at a higher than reasonable speed, the horse struck him and pushed him to the ground, and he was trampled under the horse's feet," the indictment reads. According to the charge sheet, Etzion hit his head on the ground and he sustained several injuries, including a bruise with internal bleeding to the right foot and a cut scalp. The police declined to comment on Edri's indictment. The Council of Jewish settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, which has worked towards this and other similar indictments, on Sunday demanded that Edri be suspended. "We laud the decision and hope that all those responsible for the violence in Amona are brought to trial," the council said in a statement. The police investigations unit is examining more than a dozen similar complaints. More than 200 people were injured during the eviction of thousands of settlers from the illegal outpost, in the worst clashes between settlers and police in years. Protesters at Amona hurled rocks, eggs and bricks at the security forces, while riot police, some on horseback, beat protesters with clubs and used water cannons to keep people back. After Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected calls from across the political spectrum for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the violent evacuation, the Knesset set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry instead.