The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ruled that the state will compensate 10,000 shekels to a street vendor who lives in the public park next to David's Tomb in Jerusalem - after he was violently evicted from the place by police two years ago, after the nearby Greek church claimed that he had encroached on its territory.
The court further ruled that this is a public area and that the church does not have the ability to prevent entry to the place.
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Attorney Menashe Yado from Mehonu represents the street vendor.
The incident in which the street vendor filed the lawsuit occurred about two years ago, when a representative of the church approached him, claimed that the area where he lives was owned by it, and demanded that he leave the place.
The plaintiff refused and the church representative called police to the scene. The plaintiff confronted them and was forcibly taken from the scene to the police station, handcuffed and footed, in full view of passersby.
After the incident, the street vendor filed a lawsuit for 30,000 shekels for the attack, claiming that he had lived there for a long time and that it was a public area.
The court accepted his claim and ordered him to be compensated: "There is no dispute that the designation of the land is an open public space, an open public space as its name suggests - an open public space that any person can pass through and stay in for a reasonable period of time.".
Attorney Menashe Yado: "Today, the court removed a real disgrace in the police's fake enforcement against the public in the public area adjacent to King David's Tomb, and the public is invited en masse to exercise their legal right to enter the public garden, pray in the garden, and spend time there as in any other public place in Jerusalem.".
