Several thousand anti-government demonstrators took to the streets on Thursday across Israel, protesting the latest measures limiting the right to protest during the country’s second coronavirus lockdown. Around 3,000 demonstrators, among them activists from Hadash and the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), gathered at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, with small clusters of demonstrators marching in other parts of the city. Police arrested fourteen.
Leading protest activist Sadi Ben-Shitrit at the demonstration at Jerusalem’s Paris Square Wednesday evening, September 30, near the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whose resignation the protestors called for. The red Hadash placard reads” When the government is against the people, the people are against the government.” (Photo: Zu Haderech)
During the Tel Aviv demonstration a car passing through protesters congregated in road suddenly accelerated, rammed and knocked down two of them. Magan David Adom reported that neither incurred injuries. Joint List MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash) condemned the car-ramming and blamed far-right PM Benjamin Netanyahu for inciting the public against demonstrators. “After months of incitement from the prime minister himself and all those surrounding him, someone chose to take action and try to kill protestors using a car. The writing on the wall: Netanyahu will not rest until a demonstrator is killed,” Cassif tweeted.
The Black Flag, an anti-Netanyahu protest group, also blamed Netanyahu and members of his Likud party for the car-ramming of two protesters in Tel Aviv. “The incitement heard from the prime minister and MKs from the Likud has led to another criminal attack on the demonstrators against Netanyahu and corruption,” the movement said.
The protest in Tel Aviv, one of hundreds nationwide on Thursday, was held as MKs passed a new amendment to the legislation that severely restricts demonstrations during the ongoing virus lockdown, barring would-be demonstrators from gathering more than 1 kilometer from their homes, and limiting protests to groups of 20 people. More protests throughout Israel will be held today, Saturday, beginning from 5.30 pm (see last link below).
Related posts:
- Far-Right Government Agrees on Full Lockdown, Limiting Protests
- Thousands Gather in Jerusalem, Vow to Keep on Demonstrating
- Knesset Bans Mass Rallies; Anti-Netanyahu Protesters Decry Move
- Hundreds March through Tel Aviv against Far-Right Government
Video clips:
- Police confront protesters in Tel Aviv, Thursday night, October 1
- Car-ramming of two protesters at Tel Aviv anti-government demonstration, October 1
Today’s demonstrations:
