A human rights group slams the Israel Police for forcing the family of last year’s Jerusalem gay pride parade killer and other activists to leave the capital on Thursday during the annual LGBT march.
Police detain and later impose a restraining order on Yishai Schlissel’s mother and five brothers, ordering them to stay out of Jerusalem on Thursday. They also warn activists opposed to the parade to leave Jerusalem amid fears of violence at the march.
Schlissel is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of 16-year-old Shira Banki at the July 2015 parade. At the time of the attack, he had just been released from prison for carrying out a nearly identical though nonfatal attack over a decade ago.
“Barring the Schlissel family from Jerusalem and calling activists opposed to the pride march in Jerusalem to warn them, and barring them [from Jerusalem], is a human rights violation and an abuse of police authority,” the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) says on Twitter.
“The police are sending a message that whoever participates in a protest or wants to express an opinion against another protest ‘is being targeted’ and does so with tactics that suppress the freedom of expression and protest.”
Gay pride stabber Yishai Schlissel is led out of the courtroom, at the Jerusalem District Court on June 26, 2016, after being sentenced to life in prison and an additional 31 years (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
