Jewish sectarian Lev Tahor accuses Guatemalan authorities of religious persecution.

Guatemalan authorities have found several children who were taken away by members of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect who broke into care centers where they were being held.

Officials said members of Lev Tahor’s sect entered the shelter on Sunday in an attempt to retrieve 160 minors who were taken from the sect’s compound in a police raid on Friday. Authorities have accused the sect of sexually abusing children.

Some of the children were found on Sunday and others earlier on Monday, AFP reported.

Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez said a farm compound in Oratoria, southwest of Guatemala City, was raided by authorities on Friday to rescue children and children “allegedly abused by members of Lev Tahor’s sect” teenager.

“Based on the statements of the complainant, the evidence obtained and the medical examination, it was established that there are forms of trafficking in persons,” Nancy Paez, prosecutor of the Guatemala Anti-Human Trafficking Prosecutor’s Office, said at a press conference. These minors, such as Forced marriage, abuse and related crimes. “

On Sunday, about 100 relatives of children belonging to the sect gathered outside a care center in Guatemala City where the children are being held, demanding their return.

A statement from the Attorney General’s Office said members of the sect then “broke into” the center at around 4:30 pm local time (22:30 GMT), “forced open the doors and abducted the children sheltered there. and teenagers”.

“We want them to get the children out of here,” Uriel Goldman, a representative for the families, told AFP outside the center before trying to recapture the minors.

People outside the shelter tried to prevent authorities from taking back the minors, leading to some scuffles with police, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.

The Attorney General’s Office said that with the help of police, the center “succeeded in once again finding and protecting everyone”, although the Presidential Secretariat for Social Welfare later clarified that some people “evaded” the authorities and that a search alert had been activated .

Lev Tahor also accused local authorities of religious persecution.

“The authorities … lied with false accusations,” Goldman said.

Founded in Israel in 1988, the Lev Tahor community practices a serious form of Judaism that interprets Jewish law, including long prayer meetings and arranged marriages.

The community settled in Mexico and Guatemala between 2014 and 2017. In 2022, Mexican police acted in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas on the border with Guatemala and rescued a group of children and teenagers from the Lev Tahor camp, whose members were suspected of participating in the abuse of minors.

The Guatemalan Jewish community said in a statement that the sect had nothing to do with its organization and expressed support for Guatemalan authorities in conducting the necessary investigations “to protect the life and integrity of minors and other vulnerable groups who may be at risk.”

It called on “the governments and diplomatic corps of countries where members of Lev Tahor belong to unite to protect those whose rights may be violated”.

Currently, these minors have been placed under government protection and the investigation is still ongoing.