A member of the Lev Tahor Jewish cult protests as Guatemalan police members surround a minibus transferring rescued children to the Alida Espana de Arana special education school in Guatemala City on December 22, 2024 (Johan ORDÓÑEZ / AFP)
Guatemalan officials say that members of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish cult broke into a shelter attempting to recapture 160 minors taken from their compound two days earlier by authorities, who accuse the group of child sexual abuse.
The farm compound in Oratoria, southwest of Guatemala City, was raided on Friday by authorities to rescue 160 minors who “were allegedly being abused by a member of the Lev Tahor sect,” Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez said.
About 100 of the children’s relatives who belong to Lev Tahor gathered yesterday outside a care center in Guatemala City, where the children were being held, to demand their return.
Cult members then “broke into” the center around 4:30 p.m. local time (2230 GMT Sunday), “forcing open the gate and abducting the children and adolescents sheltered there,” a statement from the Attorney General’s Office said.
Guatemalan police members surround a minibus transferring rescued children from the Lev Tahor cult to the Alida Espana de Arana special education school in Guatemala City on December 22, 2024 (Johan ORDÓÑEZ / AFP)
Those outside the shelter tried to prevent the authorities from bringing back the minors, leading to some scuffles with police, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
With police help, the center “managed to locate and protect everyone again,” the Attorney General’s Office says.
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