 | By Murray Weiss, DNAinfo.com June 21, 2012 BROOKLYN — Four men were arrested Thursday morning for allegedly offering a $500,000 bribe to a sexually abused teenager to get her to drop charges against a popular Orthodox community counselor who is presently on trial in Brooklyn. READ MORE |
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Members of the Satmar Hasidic sect gather in the Continental catering hall in Williamsburg. Photograph: Zoë Blackler Ultra-Orthodox Jews turn out by the hundreds for accused sex offender Tempers flare on street outside Brooklyn hall while inside the Satmar Hasidic sect raises money for Nechemya Weberman Zoë Blackler in New York guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 May 2012 "The community will come," Brooklyn's Yiddish press had declared. And on Wednesday night, the community answered the call. On the street outside the Continental catering hall in Williamsburg, they filled the sidewalk, at times spilling onto the road to be pushed back by police. Inside the packed room, men of all ages dressed in the traditional garb of the Satmar Hasidic sect – long black coats, round hats and side curls – listened to their community elders speak out in support of a man they claim has been wrongly accused. With the issue of child sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox community gaining ever greater press attention, the approaching trial of Nechemya Weberman has become a touch paper, igniting passions on both sides of the growing divide in this community – between those who claim most alleged child sex crimes are hushed up and those who refute the charge. READ MORE |
