12 arrested in Jerusalem, others across the country, in anti-Netanyahu demonstrations
Jerusalem’s police on Saturday night arrested 12 rioters who participated in protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in another night of unrest in the capital.
Demonstrators in Jerusalem. (Yehonatan Valtser/TPS)
Demonstrators rallied around the prime minister’s official residence in the centre of the city while blocking main routes and clashing with the police.
Demonstrators also rallied on the beach in Tel Aviv, near Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, and at several intersections throughout the country.
The demonstrators had a mixture of messages, including charges that Netanyahu was harming Israel’s democracy, that he was on trial for criminal charges and therefore should step down, that he had failed in his leadership during the Coronavirus crisis, and that he should cease with his plan to declare sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.
The police stated that officers detained three young men in their 20s on Road 34, on suspicion of spraying water on protesters at the Sderot Junction.
The police also stopped on Road 4 at the Ashkelon North Junction a man in his 20s after rioting, spitting at protesters and cursing at them.
In another incident, police detained for questioning a homeless person in his 40s after he allegedly threw a rock at protesters at the Maxim Intersection and injured a woman.
In Jerusalem, the protest lasted for several hours, during which the police allowed a procession to leave for the city centre area and return to Paris Square, where the protest began.
After a large part of the protesters left the demonstration, dozens remained and began to disrupt the order while ignoring the repeated calls by the police to disperse independently.
Police forces dispersed the rioters, cleared the intersection and opened it to traffic.
The police stated that it detained or arrested 12 suspects on suspicion of disorderly conduct, assaulting a police officer and illegally flying a drone.
In another location in Tel Aviv, right-wing demonstrators held a rally near the home of Supreme Court President Esther Hayut.
The demonstrators said they “are being robbed of democracy,” chanted that “the people are the sovereign,” and “this is not Iran.”
Hundreds of demonstrators came to the demonstration at Hayut’s house following the Supreme Court judges’ decision to allow a left-wing protest in front of the Prime Minister’s House. The protestors were equipped with drums, horns and musical instruments.
Saturday night’s riots were the latest in several such events that took place in recent days in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and the demonstrations’ organizers have vowed to continue with their campaign to unseat Netanyahu.
Responding to the demonstrations, Netanyahu stated Friday that “all the manifestations of incitement and terrible hatred in the demonstrations of the left and the calls for murder – will not stop me from acting for you and for our country.”
“After Tisha B’Av, I hope we can stop these terrible manifestations of hatred and incitement, and return to uniting as a people and as a state in our common struggle against the Coronavirus and for the saving of the lives and livelihoods of the citizens of Israel,” he added.
