Hundreds demonstrate outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem
Protesters during a demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, on July 24, 2020
TOI staff report 24 July 2020:
Several hundred people demonstrated Friday outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, the latest in ongoing protests calling for Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation over alleged corruption and the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Protesters were holding a Shabbat service at the scene. There were as of yet no reports of clashes with police.
Meanwhile, police on Friday put up barriers outside Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea after the Shin Bet security service received information that some protesters could target the house, Channel 13 reported.
The agency declined to comment and police said that no applications to protest at the site have been received.
The rally came a day after the latest protest against the premier devolved into violence Thursday night, with police using water cannons to disperse rowdy demonstrators and arresting or detaining 55 people as they cleared the area.
Officers sprayed protesters with high-pressure water cannons in a bid to move people off the streets after midnight. Some protesters who were peacefully dispersing were shot in the back by the water cannons, and activists said police left them with nowhere to go.
“Despite the legitimate protest by many participants, who dispersed on their own, protesters [remained] who refused to disperse after police declared several times that the demonstration had ended and asked protesters to leave on their own, and so police were forced to act to disperse them and restore public order,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.