#0202_West_Jerusalem

Protests in Jerusalem Continue

"The number of people at the protest tonight [August 1, 2020] was amazing. Between ten and fifteen thousand I think. People of all ages and from all over the country. Fun to watch.

There was a march through King George and Hillel streets; there were posters, signs, artists and much more. Almost all of them came up with clear messages. Messages against the Prime Minister who stands accused of crimes, messages against corruption and against police violence – essentially, a great desire to see change. And that’s not all in my opinion. There were so many people that night at Paris Square that even at 1 in the morning it was still full.

I am very happy to see that the calls for justice for Iyad al-Hallak [1] have become a central part of the demonstration. Solomon Teka's [2] name was also shouted by thousands of people tonight.

Throughout the night I saw maybe a hundred or two hundred curious Haredi Jews walking around and taking an interest. Also a lot of people who disagree with the demonstrations came to talk to protesters, and there seemed to be some dialogue. The protests can no longer be ignored. The mothers who came to protect the protesters from the police were the best part of the night.

At the end of the night, the Israeli police ‘evacuated’ Paris Square with such violence that I felt like I missed their water cannons. Okay, you decided to clear out the streets, why do you need to strike so hard? People of all ages were beaten today by police officers. They pushed people who already got up to ‘accelerate’ their exit.

Journalists also saw the policemen's use of force, photographers were pushed, reporters were abducted. I saw about three policemen standing over Orly Bar-Lev [journalist] and not leaving her alone even though everyone was yelling at them that she was a journalist. There's a bald cop with a ginger beard who was really enjoying his job. Extremely violent.

Finally, it is worth dedicating an entire paragraph of contempt to Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer fans, who came tonight mainly to pose, sing soccer songs and curse the police and Jerusalem together.

Come on, let us go."

▶️Source: Shir Aharon Bram
▶️Picture Source: Haim Rivlin

—
0202 Editor’s Note:
[1] Iyad Al-Hallak was a 32-year-old autistic man who was shot dead by Border Police officers in May 2020 while he was on his way to school.
[2] Solomon Teka was an 18-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli man who was shot dead by an off-duty police officer in June 2019. The killing sparked a series of protests by Ethiopian Jews, protesting against police brutality.

#Protest #Police #Violence #Paris_Square
‏https://bit.ly/2XkbC5j

https://www.facebook.com/1675349376080655/posts/2739598219655760/