Considerable disorder occurred in the Israel Parliament last night when Mapam and Communist deputies demanded that the Knesset consider the question of the seamen’s strike before it discussed any other matter.
The Mapam-Communist demand was turned down by Deputy Speaker M. Shefer who insisted that the Parliament hear an announcement by Police Minister Shitreet on the case of detained religious dissidents involved in the bombing of the Knesset earlier this year. The Mapam and Communist deputies inside Parliament jumped to their feet and began shouting at the Speaker. At the same time, a demonstration of striking seamen and Mapam and Communist representatives outside the building demanded that a strikers’ delegation be received by the praesidium of the Parliament.
The disorder lasted for half-an-hour until Speaker Shefer announced that the Police Minister would read his announcement and then the Knesset would adjourn to permit its House Committee to work on the agenda. The deputies calmed down and Minister Shitreet announced that the government had instructed the Inspector General of Police to indict any policeman who broke the regulations. Also, the announcement said that there are no grounds for acting against any of the policemen involved in detaining the religious underground members, who had charged police cruelty during their incarceration. Later, when the Knesset praesidium promised to receive a delegation of striking seamen, the demonstrators dispersed.
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