Police clash with group protesting acquittal in 2020 killing of autistic Palestinian

Left-wing demonstrators gathered in downtown Jerusalem on Thursday night for a “protest of outrage” against the acquittal of a Border Police officer in the 2020 fatal shooting of 32-year-old Iyad Halak, an autistic Palestinian man.

“Iyad was murdered, we will not forget,” chanted demonstrators marching down the central Ben Yehuda Street, as police tried to contain the crowd.

The acquitted officer, who faced charges of reckless manslaughter, killed Halak in the Old City as he was on his way to a special education school. The officer, whose name is barred from publication, claimed he mistook Halak’s phone for a gun, and chased him down with another cop until cornering him, proceeding to shoot him dead.

Held in unison with protests of a similar nature in Tel Aviv and Haifa, the demonstration got off to a slow start on the corner of King George and Ben Yehuda streets. At its peak, about 100 people turned out to publicly oppose the Jerusalem District Court’s decision.

The demonstration culminated in protesters blocking off the central King George Street for around 10 minutes, sitting in the center of the road and refusing to get up. One of them spattered bright red paint on the asphalt, imitating blood. Within minutes, police surrounded the group, picking them up and forcing them off the street one by one, until the road was clear again.

Holding photos of Halak, signs reading “Palestinian Lives Matter” and waving banners calling for justice, the protesters chanted that Halak’s killing was not a one-off event: “This is not a mistake, this is policy.”

As the protest strayed from its original location, police began to wrestle demonstrators to the ground and confiscate their signs and megaphones.

Throughout the night, passersby heckled the demonstrators, calling them “traitors” and “goyim.” One counter protester shouted: “There is no such thing as Palestine or the occupation,” while others yelled at the group: “Death to terrorists.”

The group behind the protest, the “Free Jerusalem” organization, publicized details about the rally on social media just a few hours in advance.

“The shameful acquittal of the police officer who shot to death Iyad Halak will not pass in silence!” the post reads. “His murder was not a mistake, it was policy. A policy that Palestinian lives do not count. A policy that those wearing uniforms have a license to do as they please, including killing. A policy of occupation.”

The acquitted officer has since been readmitted into the Border Police and is slated to join a commanders’ course in the coming weeks, per his request.