• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Anti-Overhaul Protestors Block Roads, take Protest to Ministers

Mar 23, 2023

On Thursday, a fresh day of demonstrations was launched by protest organizers against the judicial overhaul proposals.

A number of large gatherings are expected to see almost half a million turn up on highways, the streets as well as outside the homes of coalition members.

The reservists

In the coastal city of Herzliya, a bunch of IDF reservists placed banners overnight on the modern Zionism founder, Theodor Herzl.

The banners were focused on democracy and the government’s attempt to weaken the judiciary, using the phrase that Herzl was famous for.

The reservists then gathered outside the home of Aryeh Deri, the leader of the Shas party, in Jerusalem, who is one of the key allies of Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to a recent ruling from the High Court of Justice, Deri had been removed from his ministerial position due to his recent criminal conviction.

The coalition is now advancing legislation that will allow him to return to his position in the cabinet. Dozens of Haredi boys and men turned up outside Deri’s home to dance in front of the protestors.

Another group of military reservists turned up outside the home of Yoav Kisch, the Education Minister, in Ramat Gan, who had also been a former pilot of the air force.

The protestors

The protestors also unfurled Israeli flags and the Declaration of Independence in down the sides of Jerusalem’s Old City walls.

In Rishon Lezion, a man had been arrested over suspicion of attacking a protestor as well as threatening others. The 80-year old victim had to be given medical treatment.

In Ashdod, the demonstrators also blocked the entrance to the maritime port by setting tires on fire and a number of highways and junctions were blocked across Israel, as parents and children rallied.

According to the police, five people were arrested for disturbances in Ra’anana and two people were arrested north of Tel Aviv at the Hafkar Hayarok junction.

There was a convention taking place at the Airport City business park and Nir Barkat, the Economy Minister, and Avi Dichter, the Agriculture Minister, were in attendance.

Two people were also detained at the said convention, as disturbance had been created during the speech of the Agriculture Minister.

Reports said that the minister had had to take a back exit for leaving the convention.

More details

Not only did the protestors block roads, but the police said that the exit and entrance ramps of the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv were also blocked.

Protests were also on the agenda in Bnei Brak, the ultra-Orthodox suburb in Tel Aviv, where a number of members of the Knesset reside.

This resulted in worries that there could be friction with the locals, as a number of them support the judicial overhaul push from the coalition.

Protest organizers called Thursday a ‘national day of paralysis’ and their aim is to cause traffic disruption close to the Ben Gurion Airport to make it difficult for Benjamin Netanyahu to take his flight to London.

Numerous rallies will also be held in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem at highway interchanges, major intersections as well as university campuses.

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