Kiryas Joel, NY – One side describes the post-election scene as a melee in which as many as 400 boys and young men shouted at departing poll watchers, pelted at least two women with eggs and shook the van of an attorney they revile.
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The other side scoffs at that description. In their account, the crowd size was closer to 150, no eggs were thrown and the noise that poll watchers heard was merely celebratory singing.
The setting was a wedding banquet hall on Forest Road where Kiryas Joel held an election for two village trustee seats on Wednesday – the latest political battle between two feuding factions within this Satmar Hasidic community.
The friction began around 9:40 p.m. when the poll watchers and lawyers who had stayed to await the voting results filed outside, where a crowd of young spectators had gathered.
Michael Sussman, the attorney for the village’s opposition movement, said he met “what looked like 300-400 young men,” who screamed at him and followed him to his van as a public safety officer cleared a path through the crowd.
Once behind the wheel, Sussman said in a written account, “I could only go backwards, into a crowd of hundreds of fist-clenched young men who had pure hatred on their faces and in their hearts. They were screaming; they were rocking my van.”
Moses Witriol, the village’s public safety director, denies that last part.
“Nobody touched his van,” Witriol said. “Unless I’m blind – and I just bought a new pair of glasses.”
Witriol claims a Kiryas Joel Alliance member who accompanied Sussman had incited the crowd. Had the two men heeded his advice to leave the banquet hall by the back door, the whole incident could have been avoided, he said.
There are no outside police accounts of what happened. Several state troopers reportedly responded to the scene with lights flashing, but no record of their visit exists.
Orange County Sheriff’s deputies – who monitored the last village election, in 2005, under court order – had no such obligation this time and got no requests for help, Undersheriff Kenneth Jones said.
Jones recalled a brief moment of friction after the 2005 election, when a crowd of young people rocked the car of two opposition lawyers as they tried to leave. Deputies intervened and quickly ended the altercation, he said.
And they call themselves Jews? Who are they trying to fool? What a joke.
Where did it happen? Oh KJ, Yeah makes sense.
We need goyim to keep the peace. And when in Jewish history were goyim called in to keep the peace? Boro park in the 1980s between 2 sects. guess who?
Please post comments responsibly as all comments are moderated.all this storys are false the lost and finish
I don’t understand this whole issue, the votes are made for ev eryone to state their opinion so if your party lost try to do a better job campagning next time around, taunting and screaming after the votes sounds very foolish
anony 1241 realize it was the winning crowd that yelled
I think he doesn’t need new glasses, he needs to be available on the job when conditions require, when his boys are pelting eggs at the poll watchers, yelling and screaming, he shouldn’t close his eyes, he should’ve been there to bring the melee under control.
This is a complete attention seeking story for all those losers. By twisting the story.
I was there watching the scene. There was no egg throwing at all and nobody ever touched his car and there were maybe 100 people still standing outside after the elctions waiting for the results. It was a heated election. So people who came late still hung around. So sussman and company were asked not to leave out the front door were everybody was still around after the results not to stir up a melee or a fight. They offered him a back door exit with security escort and he refused.
So that’s what he intended for to try to make a fight so he can run to the news and talk bad against KJ. When he came out there was shouting only “NOBODY” touched him or his car or threw any eggs.
That’s what is going to happen in every community not only jewish when you walk into your heated opponents crowd.
all this hate brings for all the problems the jews have in tis world parnosoh illness and all the TZURES you cna imagine
the BETH HAMIKDASCH was also destroid because of sinash chinom
haschem yerachem what will be the outcome of all the machloikes loh leschem schamaim
couple of years ago on schevouse a few einiklech where burned dont the learn a lesson this was a reminder
KJ res 10:51
What a clear confession.. next time don’t behave this way, to avoid chillul hashem.
kj res: please talk tzim zach. is this the way to behave? would u want your child to behave that way? where is your rebbe to denounce such violance? and what about those hoodlums yelling after reb zalmon in the bais hachaim a day earlier? had your leaders taken care of this after the first incident it wouldn’t have come to such a chilul hashem.