Jews storm police station

Press, 4 December 1978, Page 1

Jews storm police station

NZPA-Reuter New York • Two thousand Orthodox Jews, angered by the fatal stabbing of an elderly Jewish man in their neighbourhood, stormed a New York police station on Saturday and in the melee a state politician, six civilians, and policemen were injured. During the 30-minute battle the police and the Hasidic Jews traded punches in the 66th precinct station house in the Borough of Brooklyn. Most of the injuries were slight but one of the Jews suffered a heart attack and two policemen were hit with bricks.

The battle was sparked by the death of Irving Sussman, aged 65, who was stabbed during an apparent attempted robbery while he was returning home from a religious service. Mr Sussman was said to be carrying no money at the time because he was observing the Sabbath. Word of Mr Sussman’s death spread rapidly through the area and several hours later the Hasidic Jews, many in long coats and widebrimmed hats, stormed the police station. A New York State assemblyman, Samuel

Hirsh, one Of the first civilians inside, ' was struck on the head and knocked down. He was treated at a hospital and released.

Many Hasidic Jews said that the police had been brutal: “They were swinging those clubs round like bats," one man said. “We want them arrested, investigated, and sent to trial.”

Both of the glass doors at the main entrance to the station house were smashed and the police said that SUS 10,000 in damage had been done to the building.

Many said that the police took 45 minutes to respond to the first reports that Mr Sussman was dead. But the police said the man who found Mr Sussman’s body did not know how to speak English and did not know how to call the police.

Two hours after the melee ended New York’s mayor, Mr Edward Koch, arrived at the police station and appealed in English and Yiddish for the remaining Hasidic Jews to go home.

The Hasidim are members of a conservative Jewish sect that originated in Eastern Europe in the eighteenth century.