Last update - 00:00 21/02/2008
Haifa U. to punish students for memorial of October 2000 riots
By Tamara Traubmann
Haifa University students will be brought before a disciplinary tribunal for holding a memorial service Wednesday for the 13 Arab civilians who had been killed in the October 2000 events.
The students were also protesting the attorney general's decisions to close the investigation against the policemen who had allegedly shot the 13.
"This is another step in the university's ongoing campaign against freedom of expression and public activity on campus," said student Uri Waltman, one of the leaders of the university's Hadash activists.
The university said in a statement that the students will be tried because they had demonstrated without a permit.
This is not the first time that Haifa University pressed disciplinary charges against left-wing activists for political activity labeled "illegal."
Some six months ago, students staged a mute show, in which they were gagged with sticky paper in protest of then student's union spokesman Saar Ziv's statements against Arabs. The university brought them before a disciplinary tribunal.
At Wednesday's rally, Jewish and Arab students observed a minute of silence, lit candles and sang in memory of those who had been shot dead in October 2000.
The university stated that they had "demonstrated against procedures," and did not ask for a permit to hold the protest. "Any request for political activity that is presented according to the rules will be examined and approved if it does not infringe on state laws," university
rector Professor Yossi Ben Artzi said.
During the day, the students held another protest against Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision to close the investigation against the police who shot the Arabs in 2000. This event was approved by the university.
"Thirteen people were killed yet there's no killer," said Former Hadash MK Issam Mahoul at the gathering.