Middle East

Violent protests over teen’s death in Israel injure 111 police

The shooting of 19-year-old Solomon Teka by an off-duty police officer in Kiryat Haim, just north of Haifa, has ignited long-simmering frustrations among Ethiopian-Israelis over racism in the country. An investigation into the incident, which took place on Sunday, is still ongoing.Israel's police spokesman said 111 police officers were injured in clashes during demonstrations. Dozens of protesters were also wounded, Israel's emergency response service, Magen David Adom, said.According to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, protesters attacked police and civilians.Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan expressed his sorrow at the death of Teka and insisted the protesters had a right to demonstrate, but warned against the demonstrations turning violent once again, with more nationwide protests expected on Wednesday."We will not tolerate anarchy and we will not tolerate a major hit to the public order," Erdan said in a statement Tuesday night.Video distributed by police showed a number of cars on fire.Another video widely shared on social media shows an angry mob jumping on a car and trying to smash its windows as it drives down the street.Many demonstrations took place at road junctions causing long delays to traffic.Police had initially taken a permissive stance opposite the protests."Over the last days the police have allowed demonstrations to take place and let protesters openly demonstrate. Police have carried out an open dialogue with the leaders of the community in order to prevent riots and violence against police or civilians," a police statement said.It went on, "Police are now responding by dispersing the protests and preventing further riots and acts of danger to policeman and civilians."The father of Solomon Teka mourns over his body during his funeral in Haifa on Tuesday.An investigation into the precise circumstances of Sunday's shooting is underway.An initial statement by police about the incident — challenged by eye-witnesses, according to reports in Israeli media – said the off-duty officer described seeing a fight in a playground.After approaching the people involved in the fight and telling them he was a police officer, they started throwing stones at him, the police statement said.The off-duty officer found himself iRead More – Source

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