Human rights and gay rights activists rally in Tel Aviv

Thousands of African migrants, mostly Sudanese and Eritreans, and human rights activists marched in Tel Aviv on Saturday night shouting “freedom” and “no more prison,” in protest of the implementation of the Israeli government policy to imprison most illegal migrants. The protesters demanded that they will not be sent to detention facilities in the Negev and that they be granted full refugee status. The demonstration came days after asylum seekers and migrants staged marches, on two separate occasions, in protest of their detention at the newly established Holot facility in the south.

African asylum seekers march in Tel Aviv to protest prolonged detention, arrests made during "freedom marches" earlier in the week (Photo: Activestills)

African asylum seekers march in Tel Aviv to protest prolonged detention, arrests made during “freedom marches” earlier in the week (Photo: Activestills)

Thursday, close to 130 migrants protested the arrests of their fellows, who were apprehended by police during a gathering in front of the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday. Immigration police officers who arrived at the scene ordered the demonstrators to stop marching, and arrested several of them who attempted to flee. According to the police, half of the marchers were detained at the Saharonim prison complex while the remaining protesters were returned to Holot. Since last Thursday, 480 African migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan, were transferred to Holot, which is located in the Negev desert and can hold as many as 3,000. On Sunday, 250 migrants fled Holot for a sit-in in Jerusalem to demonstrate against rules keeping them in the detention center. Hundreds of migrants were arrested during the sit-in and approximately 150 still remain in detention.

Also, over a thousand gay rights activists gathered in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square Saturday night to protest the Jewish Home and Likud-Beitenu parties’ veto of a bill that would afford child tax breaks to male homosexual couples. “We won’t let this situation continue,” Shai Deutsch, chairman of the Israeli National Association for LGBT, said in his speech at the demonstration. “The time has come that we support those who support us in the Knesset, and resolutely attack those LGBT-phobic in the government and Knesset that, although they are a minority, attempt to turn Israel into a religious dictatorship like Iran.” Public support for the LGBT community has gained traction in Israel in the past weeks. Last week, hundreds of Facebook users changed their profile pictures to a blue-and-white image of the equality sign as an expression of solidarity. In a poll released Sunday, 70 percent of Israelis said they support equal rights for homosexual couples.