Tel Aviv
Israelis opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic protested around the country Saturday night, despite new restrictions on public assembly.
In Tel Aviv demonstrators staged several simultaneous marches in different parts of the Mediterranean seafront city, an AFP photographer there said.
Visit our dedicated coronavirus site here for all the latest updates. Protesters seemed to be widely using protective masks, but a police statement said they were intentionally breaching social distancing rules and those limiting numbers.
Police did not give an estimate on how many were involved. Parliament on Wednesday approved a law restricting demonstrations as part of a coronavirus-related state of emergency, that critics say is aimed at silencing protests against Netanyahu.
On Friday, Tourism Minister Asaf Zamir, of the centrist Blue and White party quit Netanyahu’s coalition government over the restrictions.
Announcing his decision on Twitter he said that Netanyahu was more concerned about his ongoing corruption trial and the growing public protest than about fighting a second wave of COVID-19.
“I am not willing to put up for another minute with a reality in which the right to demonstrate is restricted,” he wrote. “Therefore, I must follow my conscience.”
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz named the party’s Orit Farkash Hacohen to replace Zamir and the coalition did not seem to be in immediate danger, although commentators speculated that other resignations could follow.—AFP
