Overnight, police began evacuating dozens of youths who had come to support the residents of Tapuah Hill West neighborhood against the scheduled Sunday morning evacuation. Police entered neighborhood homes uninvited and dragged out boys by force to vehicles that transported them to neighboring Ofra and Eli. Local residents complained of violence, and documented one of the officers who was dragging a boy and threatening him: “I’ll break your face,” Hakol Hayehudi reported.
According to Honenu, overnight police detained and removed more than 40 boys and girls from the hill. When they reached Ofra, they were released without being interrogated. Another 10 youths were detained at several intersections on the way to Tapuah. They were also released, except for a minor, 15, who was arrested at the Ofra junction and threatened with a taser. The minor was taken to the Binyamin police station where he was interrogated. At the end of his interrogation, he was released to five-day house arrest.
Hundreds of police officers arrived Sunday morning at the Tal Binyamin neighborhood in the settlement Tapuah Hill West in Samaria, joining police forces that had already raided the hill on Saturday night and took control of the area in preparation for the High Court of Justice demolition decree against local homes.
According to the High Court ruling, several structures, including parts of family homes, as well as one complete family home and industrial structures supporting agriculture are expected to be demolished. Additional structures have already been evacuated voluntarily or will be evacuated eventually and transported to the nearby Tapuach settlement.
On Sunday morning, a large police checkpoint was set up on Route 5 near Tapuach, and roadblocks positioned in the area since Saturday night are cutting down civilian traffic which police suspect includes outside protesters. A police checkpoint was set up in Ariel Square, another at the entrance to Tapuach and two checkpoints outside the Yitzhar junctions.
The police tweeted a statement Sunday morning, saying: ” Following the evacuation of the 10 buildings in Tapuah, in accordance with the decision of the court: the policemen who came to the scene encountered violence, including dumping of burning material, bleach, sticks and other objects. So far, 11 policemen have been injured and six suspects arrested.”