A routine dispute between a landlord and tenants resulted in a police response in Jerusalem’s Beis Yisrael neighborhood. According to a Kikar Shabbat report, the incident occurred between Sunday night and Monday morning, the eve of 11 Menachem Av 5772 between yeshiva students, American renting in the area. The landlord reportedly claimed the tenants owed him $1,000.

The situation began to flare up and at some point; it appears the American bochurim became involved in an altercation with a number of the neighbors as well. Things got out of control when the students reportedly attacked a chareidi volunteer policeman who responded to the call. He was the victim of verbal abuse, assaulted and spat upon. Additional police responded and dispersed the crowd, bringing the incident to an end.

Nachman, an area resident, is quoted by Kikar as saying “This was not the first time that there was an upheaval at night. This must be stopped. The residents from abroad have taken over the apartments and there is no one supervising them. They are single young adults that are too noisy and they are too active late at night. We plan to establish a community vaad to address this. If this does not work we will have to involved police”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)