Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich condemned police brutality on Monday, as videos came to light documenting police officers using excessive force while breaking up a haredi anti-draft demonstration on Sunday.
Videos showed police punching and kicking haredi demonstrators and throwing protestors to the ground unprovoked. One clip showed a police commander purposely breaking a demonstrator's glasses with no apparent provocation.
"I had a bad feeling when I saw the videos yesterday," Alsheich said, and made it clear that the police handling of the rally was being examined. "The haredi Jewish [demonstrators] were also violent, but in the videos, I witnessed incidents in which the use of force by the policemen that was not justified," he added.
Alsheich noted that police had transferred all of the relevant videos to the Police Internal Investigations Department (Mahash) for investigation, and promised that the officers would be prosecuted if found guilty.
Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who oversees the police department, praised the decision to investigate the allegations on Monday, and said that police seemed out of control. "The video shows a loss of control [by police], use of unreasonable force. Unless the video has been completely altered, the officers involved will need to explain [their behavior] to the Police Internal Investigations Department” he said.
Aryeh, 24, is a veteran of anti-draft rallies and said that the police violence was irregular in its scope. "They are always rough with us, but this was something else" he told Arutz Sheva. "I've never seen so many policemen drag innocent protesters and hit people."