Protests in Israel Grow While Violent Confrontations Avoided

According to police estimates, the now-regular demonstration outside the official Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem drew more than 10,000 participants on Saturday night – some estimates placing attendance at 15,000. The event was the largest to be held in the capital. Meanwhile, other groups of demonstrators fanned out across the country, occupying hundreds of bridges and intersections, waving black flags and improvised banners, before joining thousands of others at the Tel Aviv section of the night’s festivities, also protesting the government’s economic response to the coronavirus pandemic and calling for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s resignation because of alleged corruption for which the PM is standing trial. When several hundred protesters refused to disperse peacefully at around 1 am, Jerusalem police began to forcibly clear the streets, leading to 12 arrests. Unlike at last week’s demonstrations, no major violent attacks against protesters at the hands of alleged Netanyahu supporters were reported. But earlier that afternoon, a handful of incidents that included verbal curses and threats, bricks hurled, punches thrown and pepper spray used against protesters were reported in a number of locations. As to the virus that ignited the unrest, Saturday’s numbers showed the first sharp decrease in infections (625) in many days. But closer inspection reveals a correlating drop in the number of tests over the weekend, with the infection rate remaining a high 8.4%.