Jerusalem Police Absolved in Death of Ultra-orthodox Demonstrator

This city’s police department was absolved from blame today for the death in a riot last September of a member of a crowd demonstrating against “desecration of the Sabbath.” It was established that the dead man had suffered a stroke during the demonstration.

The dead man was Pinhas Segalov, a member of “Neturei Karta,” a small group of religious extremists who, for weeks every Saturday, until the fatal riot in September, staged demonstrations against persons riding in buses or automobiles on the Sabbath. Various religious groups charged that the Jerusalem policemen were brutal in stamping out the riot which, on that day, had attracted thousands of demonstrators and counter demonstrators.

Judge Eliahu Mani, chairman of the Special Inquiry Commission, recommended in his report that full protection be given all citizens, and called on all elements in the city to cooperate to keep the peace. Two secular members of the Commission called for a law prohibiting Saturday motor traffic, especially in parts of the city where 75 percent of the residents object to such traffic. Two religious members of the Commission called for a law barring all motor traffic in the country “in order to preserve the sacred character of the Sabbath.”

Both of the latter groups in the Commission found that there was a lack of religious men on the Jerusalem police force. They recommended that the police department and the religious groups establish closer liaison.

Members of the Commission charged that “Neturei Karta” constituted “a fanatic religious group” which exploited the Sabbath demonstrations “to combat the state and undermine authority through extreme activities which went beyond peaceful manifestation.” The Commission members also criticized counter-demonstrators whose activities, “if countenanced by the authorities, would lead to riots.”