Guatemalan police clash with Jewish sect over 160 at-risk children

Guatemalan authorities have resisted attempts by members of a Jewish sect to return 160 children rescued from its premises.

The children were taken into custody on Friday when police raided a farm used by Lev Tahor, who is under investigation in several countries for serious sex crimes.

Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez said they were allegedly abused by a sect member.

But on Sunday, members of the sect stormed the care center where they were being held in an attempt to get them back, leading to a standoff with police.

The Lev Takhor sect is known for its extremist practices and strict regime for its followers.

It advocates child marriage, provides for severe punishment for even minor offenses, and requires women and girls as young as three to be fully covered by robes.

The sect accuses the Guatemalan authorities of religious persecution.

The community settled in Mexico and Guatemala between 2014 and 2017. In 2022 members of the sect were arrested as a result of a police operation in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, but they were later released for lack of evidence.

The events began when police raided the sect’s farm in Oratorio, southeast of Guatemala City, on Friday, taking the children into custody.

Prosecutors said there were suspicions of “forced pregnancy, child abuse and rape.”

But two days later, about 100 relatives of the children – all members of the sect – gathered outside the center where they were being held to call for their return.

Then some members of the sect forced open the gate and tried to kidnap the children and teenagers who were sheltering there, the Prosecutor General’s Office said.

But the children were intercepted by the authorities and put in a white van, local media reported.

With the help of the police, the center “managed to find and protect everyone again,” added the General Prosecutor’s Office.

Officials had earlier tried to check on the children’s welfare, but the sect members would not let them into the farm.

According to the authorities, the community consists of about 50 families living in Guatemala, the United States, Canada and other countries.

The Jewish community of Guatemala issued a statement rejecting the sect, calling it foreign to its organization.

It expressed support for the Guatemalan authorities in carrying out the necessary investigations “to protect the lives and integrity of minors and other vulnerable groups that may be at risk.”