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Israeli Merchant Shot Dead in Katanga; Jewish Community Protests

March 26, 1963
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An Israeli citizen who had been a merchant in Elisabethville, capital of the former Congolese secessionist province of Katanga, was shot and killed in Elisabethville this morning, according to a radio report here today.

The man, Simon Asher, 55, was walking in front of the former Katanga National Bank today when soldiers ordered him off the sidewalk, the dispatch reported. Mr. Asher, who was deaf, did not hear the order, and was hit by a bullet which killed him immediately. Mr. Asher, though a citizen of Israel, was reported to have been a storekeeper in Elisabethville for the last eight years. Many white businessmen closed their stores in protest against the shooting, while the Jewish community entered vigorous protests with officials of Katanga Province and the national Congo Government in Leopoldville.

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