Israeli police raided the Nazareth branch of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) on Wednesday, confiscating the Palestinian flag that was flown alongside the red flags.

Border Police officers in the Nazareth branch of the Communist Party, on Wednesday (Photo: Hadash Party Spokesperson)

According to Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman, the police “took down the red flags and the Palestinian flag and arrested the secretary of the Communist Party.” “Comrades of Nazareth confronted the police forces and refused them access to the building. The Police did not possess any warrant, and called for backup, climbed walls, removed the Palestinian flag and the red flags, and confiscated them, all while arresting the secretary of the party in Nazareth,” the CPI spokesperson said.  After the intervention of the Party leadership, the cops returned all flags to the headquarters– where they were flown again over the Communist headquarters in the city.

“The Communist Party reiterates that this is a provocative authoritarian assault, the aim of which is to suppress and attack the political freedoms, in implementation of the orders of the settler Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister of National Security whose been convicted of supporting terrorism. CPI cadres, who participated on Wednesday in the March of Return, say that this assault will not go unnoticed, and the response will be in mass mobilization towards the May Day march in Nazareth on Saturday. “

The central May Day demonstration being organized by Hadash and the CPI will be held, as every year, in Nazareth tomorrow Saturday, April 29, a mass march will take place along Tawfiq Zyad street in the center of the city beginning at 10:00. May Day events commemorating this year’s International Workers’ Solidarity Day will take place next week with a number of rallies, demonstrations and debates across Israel, including in Tel Aviv, Nazareth, Acre, Kufr Yassif in the Western Galilee, and other locales.

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=30274