Quarantine breaker arrested in Tel Aviv, balcony music fails in Israel

Video of the arrest showed police officers in full-body protective gear pinning down the man who was supposed to be in quarantine.

 

Israel Police stated that a man, 47, was found on Bograshov St. in Tel Aviv after refusing to stay in quarantine. He had been involved in an attack on security guards at the city's Hahagana train station. A hearing will be held on Sunday to determine whether to extend his arrest.

"The police call on the public to listen to directives and instructions from the Health Ministry; not following them disrupts the national effort to fight the outbreak of the virus and its spread in Israel," said Israel Police on Saturday night. "Additionally, there is an absolute prohibition on spreading fake news whose sole purpose is to plant panic throughout the public. Relevant and authoritative information, including updates and official directives, will be published only by authorized officials and on the Health Ministry website."

In related news, after seeing video of Italians who are currently under lockdown singing together from their balconies, two residents of Kfar Yona in quarantine decided to try the same in the Holy Land and started playing music on a loudspeaker from their balconies on Saturday afternoon. In Italy, the singing spread cheer – but in Israel, the music led neighbors to call the police.

The two people in quarantine didn't understand what the fuss was all about, and soon enough a brawl broke out between the two and the police who arrived at the scene, according to Channel 12. Police arrested the owner of the loudspeaker and a number of neighbors who were involved in the brawl.

 

"We all are in quarantine of some sort or another. We have adults here in quarantine and dozens of children in the neighborhood in full quarantine," Noam Amir, a resident of the neighborhood, told Channel 12. "There's a lot of stress and a lot of difficulty containing it in a residential building. So a few neighbors somewhat eased the tension. It is unclear why the police had to act like this."

"Where's the patience? I would expect especially from bodies like the police to know how to contain incidents like these with patience," said another neighbor. "The stress level is intense, a little understanding wouldn't kill even those neighbors who think that the law is the law. We expect the neighbors who were brought in for questioning to be released back home."

Israel Police reported that officers arrived at the scene after receiving multiple complaints about noise and found a loudspeaker on high volume. When the owner of the loudspeaker was asked to identify himself, he attacked the officers and was arrested and brought in for questioning.

The government approved emergency regulations by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan including fines for quarantine breakers and violators of orders against large gatherings. Extra measures were implemented to prevent the spread of the virus in prisons as well, including holding hearings for arrest extensions without the defendant present in the room and visits to prisoners will be limited as well.