Thousands protest Netanyahu in Jerusalem, at least 18 arrested ahead of demonstration
Nov. 14, 2020 - Haaretz.com
▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-police-arrest-demonstrators-during-anti-netanyahu-march-toward-jer
Thousands are protesting outside the prime minister’s residence on Jerusalem’s Balfour Street Saturday evening, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu step down in light of his indictments in three corruption cases.
Protesters marched outside an apartment owned by the prime minister on Jerusalem’s Haportsim Street to his official residence on Balfour. Demonstrators from the culture sector, who have been hard-hit by the coronavirus regulations, erected a “Trojan Horse” installation outside the residence, where the crowd has gathered.
Protesters tried to begin a protest march throughout the city streets, but were blocked by police at Agron Street. One man was arrested for reasons that are as of yet unclear.
Hundreds of protesters have gathered in Tel Aviv. A 300-strong protest march has departed from Habima Square, where they are joining another few hundred at Rabin Square. There, Eliad Shraga, the leader of the Movement for a Quality Government, adressed the legal drama surrounding the current governing coalition. In his speech to the hundreds at the square, he said "This two-headed beast isn’t working...the crisis is not managed. "Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amos Yadlin also spoke, deriding the decision-makers and saying that the submarine affair causes him to lose sleep.
Many protests against Netanyahu are taking place throughout the country Saturday night, at bridges, squares and interchanges. Protesters are reporting violence against demonstrators.
Police have arrested a suspect for disturbing the peace in Tel Aviv, after he stole a sign from a protester and ripped it up. The protester said that a young man walked up to him and started screaming that he would “kill anyone who opposes Bibi.” Police said the suspect is a 29-year-old Ashdod resident, who has been taken for questioning.
few hundred are gathered outside Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea; a protest convoy of dozens of vehicles brought demonstrators from throughout the north. Among the signs are ones reading “Take your son and your wife and go on your way,” a biblical reference. Crowds are singing “Yallah Bibi, go.”
A few dozen pro-Netanyahu counter-protesters have made an appearance as well, and are shouting “leftists are traitors” and “disease spreaders.”
A few hundred protesters are also demonstrating in Haifa.
On Route 4 in the north, between Tirat Carmel and Atlit, a can was reportedly thrown at a protester, and hit him in the head.
At Ramat Hasharon’s Morasha Interchange, an assailant threw a rock at protesters gathered there, hitting a car decorated with the protest moevement’s black flags and smashing its windshield.
The vehicle’s owner said she was waiting in her car to join the protest convoy to Balfour Street when she heard a noise and saw that her back windshield had been broken. She did not see who threw it. Police told her they were sending an officer to the scene, but then told her that she should instead drive to the police station and file a report there instead.
Earlier Saturday, Police attempted to stop a protest march along the road to Jerusalem, which they said was not approved, in which demonstrators are demanding an investigation into the so-called “submarine affair.”
In a statement, the police said they arrested 18 people who did not listen to police orders, but protesters said that 23 of them had been detained. The statement adds that the march was endangering the lives of the protesters and drivers on the road. Police later released all but two of the 25 protesters arrested to their homes.
Protesters entered the Hemed Interchange, west of Jerusalem and clashed with police as the march began. Police diverted traffic on the road and set up roadblocks to keep the protesters from advancing.
According to a police statement, officers had succeeded in stopping the marchers in the Bet Zayit Interchange area, nearly four and a half kilometers from the march’s point of origin. A number of protesters continued marching despite the roadblocks, the statement said. A short while later, the intersection was reopened to traffic.
The “Investigation Now” protest group said that despite the arrests and the “severe police brutality,” dozens of protesters and one inflatable submarine managed to make their way to Jerusalem. Demonstrators reported that a man with his face covered threw a rock at the protesters on the Chords Bridge.
Noga Tarnopolsky
@NTarnopolsky
▻https://twitter.com/NTarnopolsky/status/1327678792651972609
Anti-Netanyahu protesters outside the prime minister’s prive home in Caesarea, week XXI. @TheBlackFlags1