Indictment filed against 17 over riot at military police chief’s home

The State Attorney’s Office filed an indictment on Monday against 17 people, including four minors, over a riot at the home of Military Police chief Brig. Gen. Yuval Yaamin in Ashkelon at the end of April. The protest was against the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders and escalated into violence, with demonstrators breaking into the yard and damaging private property.

According to the indictment, dozens of protesters forced open the locked entrance gate to the yard and entered the property. The document says some stood or sat inside while holding hands, chanting protest songs, waving signs and shouting insults against the chief military police officer and the IDF, as family members remained trapped inside the house. The prosecution said the family could not safely leave.

At the time of the incident, Yaamin’s wife and two children were inside the home. Fearing harm, they closed the shutters, locked the front door and called the police. Police intervention ended the disturbance and led to the suspects’ arrest.

The indictment says damage was done to the gate’s locking mechanism, parts of the house wall were broken, and the patio tiles and nearby plants were damaged. The total loss was estimated at thousands of shekels. The defendants were charged with riot, trespass to commit an offense, and malicious damage. Prosecutor Adv. Kalper Cohen of the Southern District also asked the court to set release conditions to ensure the defendants appear for the rest of the proceedings.