An attempt to form a police union was abandoned yesterday when only some 20 policemen turned out for what was planned as a strike and mass demonstration at the Municipal Plaza here. Police headquarters earlier said the normal contingent of policemen had reported for work.
The organizers of the demonstration, Yoel Reshef and David Ofek, who had staged a hunger strike last week, told reporters that their fellow police officers had shown by not attending the demonstration they did not want a union. “But we are sure that sooner or later a police union will be established,” they said.
The two had organized the first police demonstration last Wednesday after the Knesset had passed a bill forbidding policemen to have a union. After the demonstration which tied up Jerusalem, four police captains, who participated, were dismissed from the force.
Meanwhile, the government has approved the recommendation of Interior Minister Yosef Burg, who is in charge of the police, that an ombudsman be appointed to whom appeals against disciplinary action can be brought. A ministerial committee will study policemen’s salaries. The Histadrut did not support the efforts to establish a police union but offered. Its help in settling the dispute between those seeking a union and the higher echelon of the police force. (By Yitzhak Shargil)
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