Citizens vs. Netanyahu: Mass protests against the prime minister over corruption

(Patria) – About 10,000 protesters gathered in front of the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while hundreds of others marched through the streets of Jerusalem in growing protests against Israel's leader.

Protests in central Jerusalem on Saturday, as well as smaller gatherings in Tel Aviv near Netanyahu's seaside home, and at a dozen other locations across the country, prove that Israeli citizens have no intention of backing down anytime soon.

Demonstrators are calling on the prime minister to resign due to his poor management of the epidemiological crisis and corruption allegations.

Hundreds of people remained outside despite police warnings to go home. Special forces were deployed to break up the demonstrations, but by 2:00 AM most had dispersed peacefully.

The protests against Netanyahu represent the largest demonstrations in Israel since 2011, when people protested against the high cost of living.

Netanyahu called the demonstrators leftists and anarchists. His Likud party issued a statement on Saturday evening accusing two private Israeli TV stations of providing free and excessive publicity to the protests and exaggerating their significance.

The protests, which have mostly been peaceful, have shown signs of violence in recent days. Some demonstrators have clashed with police, accusing them of excessive use of force, while small groups of the prime minister's supporters have joined with right-wing groups to hurl insults at protesters.

In the past few days, Israeli police have arrested about twenty right-wing activists and continue to monitor the protests in anticipation of a new eruption of violence.

Many believe that Israel, after an initially successful suppression of the epidemic, reopened the economy too quickly, leading to a new outbreak of infections, while unemployment still exceeded 20%, writes The Guardian.

Since the start of the epidemic, at least 72,218 people have been infected in Israel, with 526 deaths.