Eyad Al-Halaq
Palestinians are reeling after Israeli police shot dead an unarmed autistic Palestinian man inside the occupied East Jerusalem's Old City, where Israeli authorities have a history of using racial profiling and excessive force against Palestinians, specifically young men.
Eyad al-Halaq, 32, was on his way to a school for children and adults with disabilities where he was a student when Israeli police ordered him to stop for a search when they spotted a "suspicious object that looked like a pistol."Al-Halaq, who according to statements from his family has
the "mental age of a six-year-old child," was reportedly spooked by the police and began rushing away from them.The police officers then began chasing after al-Halaq before firing several rounds at him, ultimately killing him.
Israeli police issued a statement saying that after they "neutralized" the "suspect," they conducted a body search and found no weapon in his possession.
Haaretz reported that while one officer fired warning shots in the air,
the second more junior officer shot al-Halaq while he was trying to hide behind a dumpster.The junior officer reportedly "suspected [al-Halaq] was a terrorist because he was wearing gloves" — an extremely common occurrence here given the coronavirus pandemic.On top of the fact that al-Halaq was unarmed and was autistic, the arbitrary and conflicting reasoning given by the officers as to why they pursued and shot him has sparked widespread outrage among Palestinians inside Israel and the occupied territories.
Comment: We've barely begun to see the damage wrought by the unjustified lockdown: