Pepper spray
Pepper sprayiStock

Attorney Chaim Bleicher of the Honenu civil rights organization contacted the police requesting that they arrest an Arab bus driver from the Egged company who sprayed perfume on several Jewish youths in Jerusalem a few days ago.

Last Friday, a 14 and 15-year-old teen got on bus line 19 of the Egged company in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood.

"My clients, who wear sidelocks and look like religious Jews, sat down in the double bench in the front part of the bus with another empty seat between themselves and the driver," said Attorney Bleicher. "My clients sat in their seats politely and quietly," he emphasized.

At one point, when the bus passed near the Pat junction, the driver stopped the bus at one of the stops and ordered the boys and their friends to move to the back of the bus while looking at them full of disgust. "My clients asked the driver why he was moving them to the backseat. That's when the driver took out a bottle of perfume or air freshener and began to spray their bodies and faces one with a look on his face as if they were filthy cockroaches that needed to be exterminated," recalled Bleicher.

Bleicher addressed the police in his letter and requested that they locate the driver and bring him to justice. "My clients were frightened and retreated to the back seats of the bus. Another male who was on the bus began to shout at the driver that he was behaving in a racist and humiliating manner towards my clients.

"My clients felt severely humiliated by the racist attack and entered a police station where they filed a complaint. I would like to complete the investigation of the incident and bring the driver to justice for his violent and antisemitic behavior towards my clients and their friends."