Druze leaders have demanded that the government investigate police behavior during riots in the village of Peki’in on Tuesday morning. Dozens of residents and police officers were wounded in violent clashes, during which police used live fire. Village leaders demanded that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologize for an incident in which officers entered the town’s prayer hall.
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said a commission would investigate Peki’in residents’ claims. He warned that rioters would be investigated as well, and that “anyone who laid a hand on a police officer... will be dealt with severely.”
Major-General Shimon Koren, the head of the police in the northern district, responded to claims that the police used excessive violence by saying that the officers’ lives had been in danger. The situation was not typical, he said, implying that circumstances justified the use of live fire. One officer suffered a serious head wound during the riots, while a second lost a finger.