TEL AVIV, Jul 6 Second in Tel Aviv day in a row mass spontaneous protests against the judicial reform of the government take place, the central streets in the city are again blocked, and the protesters gathered at the houses of some government ministers and deputies of parliament (Knesset), the correspondent reports.
According to the police, two protesters were arrested in Tel Aviv on charges of attacking police officers and disturbing the peace near the home of the Minister for the Negev and the Galilee, Yitzhak Wasserlauf. Two people were also arrested outside the home of Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana in Tel Aviv for disturbing the peace, police said.
According to The Jerusalem Post, protests also took place outside the homes of Knesset Member Boaz Bismuth, Education Minister Yoav Kish, Innovation, Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel and some other officials.
Thursday evening, many streets of Tel Aviv were blocked by the police, and the demonstrators again blocked the central highway of the city — the Ayalon Highway.
On Wednesday, Tel Aviv hosted one of the largest demonstrations against judicial reform. In general, in Israel, the protests have not subsided for 26 weeks in a row. The police for several hours could not push the protesters off the Ayalon Highway, where the complex of government buildings and main business centers are located. To disperse the crowd, the police had to use water cannons and resort to harsh detentions of protesters.
Mass protests erupt with renewed vigor in Israel against the backdrop of the failure of negotiations on judicial reform between the ruling coalition and the opposition. The government of Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that some controversial points in the new legislation will be repealed or revised, but the progress of the reform will continue unilaterally.
Opponents of judicial reform fear that it will limit the influence of the Supreme Court on the process of passing basic laws, allow parliamentarians to challenge decisions of this court and give the government control over the procedure for appointing judges. In particular, many representatives of business, the investment community and the start-up industry spoke out against the reform.