Protestors in Detriot have rallied together following the news that three children - all under 18 - have been sent to a juvenile detention centre for allegedly refusing to attend a court-ordered lunch with their father.
The parents, Maya and Omer Tsminhoni, of the children - Liam, 14, Roee, 10, and Natalie, nine - went through a "messy" divorce in 2008 and have been in and out of court.
The incident arose after the mother failed to live up to the terms of the couple's shared custody agreement.
During a hearing on 24 June about supervised parenting time, the three children refused to go to lunch with their father which prompted Judge Lisa Gorcyca's decision to send them to the centre - named "Children's Village".
After the news broke of the Tsimhoni family, dozens of people showed up to protest Judge Lisa Gorcyca's decision at the Oakland County Courthouse.
In court documents, the son is reported to have said, according to Fox News, he didn't want to see his dad: "Because he is violent and I saw him hit my mum".
The judge told the oldest boy, according to the Observer: "You’re very defiant, you have no manners. … There is no reason why you do not have a relationship with your father. Your father has never been charged with anything. Your father’s never been convicted of anything.
"You, young man, have got it wrong. I think your father is a great man who has gone through hoops for you to have a relationship with you."
Protests have broken out, with members of the public holding signs saying "Free The Tsimhoni Kids".
The children are separated while in the detention centre, and reports claim their mother isn't allowed to see them.
One protestor, Zareen Torey, said on the ABC News report: "We as a community feel it is unjust. The children have voiced their opinion in why they don't feel comfortable and the judge doesn't seem to care."
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In a press release, as stated in the video above, the father was described as "loving and caring father who desires a healthy relationship with his children".
The father claims he has never hit his ex-wife.
Since they divorced in 2008, Mr. Tsimhoni has remarried and moved to Michigan “in order to be next to the kids and mend the relationship with the kids” he said in an interview with the Observer.
The parents had joint legal custody and their mother has physical custody. “Since then, I’ve been seeing them regularly but always in supervised visits, sometimes with a professional and sometimes with my ex-wife present. She is poisoning them and the judge realised that.”
According to WJBK, a Fox-owned television station located in Detroit, the father is the only one with the power to release the children, but he left for a business trip to Israel and isn't expected to return for two weeks.
The mother of the children's attorney asked the Chief Judge of Oakland County Court to review the case but she denied to do so because she "doesn't have the authority".
Their mother appealed for an emergency hearing to the same judge, who has denied it. Her lawyer is asking the chief judge in Oakland County Family Court to review the case.
