Public Defender’s office denounces police violence against demonstrators, failure to probe incidents

The Public Defender’s Office strongly denounces police violence against demonstrators and what it calls the failure of the Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) to adequately tackle the problem.

The comments come after repeated cases of police violence at demonstrations against the government, including last night when police officers were seen shoving, pushing and violently manhandling protesters in Tel Aviv, including a Channel 12 reporter.

“The public defender totally condemns all police violence,” the office of Public Defender Attorney Anat Meyassed Cnaan in a statement to the press.

“This violence does injury to the body and the soul and tramples human rights. Unfortunately, police violence affects all parts of Israeli society, and it leads to a lack of trust in the law enforcement system.”

Meyassed Cnaan’s office also stated that she been warning that DIPI must improve its handling “for years,” and that “unfortunately, DIPI’s behavior allows the continuation of police violence against citizens.”

Aweka Zena, a senior department head in the Public Defender’s office dealing with DIPI, said that police violence is the result of excessive lenience toward officers who break the law.