Entertainment> Celebrities

Paparazzi ordered away from DiCaprio in Israel

(Reuters)
2007-03-14 09:51

LOS ANGELES － The tables have been turned on a group of photographers whose clash with actor Leonardo DiCaprio's security team in Jerusalem resulted in the arrest of two of his bodyguards by Israeli police.

The two security guards detained for questioning after Monday's incident were released without charge, but several of the paparazzi involved in the fracas were then ordered to keep their distance from DiCaprio and his Israeli girlfriend, Bar Refaeli, his New York-based spokesman said on Tuesday.

Grainy video footage circulating on the Internet showed photographers swarming a white van that picked up DiCaprio and supermodel Refaeli as they emerged from a private tour at the Western Wall, which is Judaism's holiest site, in Jerusalem's walled Old City.

"The paparazzi went completely insane. They actually caused damage to the van," DiCaprio's publicist, Shawn Sachs, told Reuters.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Monday that two of DiCaprio's security guards were arrested "after being involved in a fight that broke out" and were being questioned.

According to Sachs, the two were later freed without charge, and authorities issued a restraining order against several of the photographers involved.

DiCaprio, a three-time Oscar nominee, arrived in Israel earlier this week for a visit amid much fanfare by the Israeli media. He recently starred in the Academy Award-winning crime drama "The Departed."