Demonstrators attempt to erect tents, but city inspectors prevent them from doing so; police arrest Daphni Leef and other protest leaders.
Protesters amassing in Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard, June 22, 2012. Photo by Social protest Facebook page
Daphni Leef, one of the leaders of Israel’s social justice protest movement, was arrested by police on Friday afternoon during a demonstration on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard.
Police arrest protest leader Daphni Leef in Tel Aviv. - Photo by Alon Ron
The demonstration, which began around noon, was meant to revive the social justice protests that swept Israel last summer.
Several hundred demonstrators carried tents to the site, which they attempted to set up along the street. However, municipal inspectors and police prevented them from placing the tents on the ground and began arresting protesters.
Leef was dragged by force into a waiting police car, prompting hundreds of demonstrators to block the road with their bodies in an attempt to prevent the car from leaving the site.
The protesters knocked over trash cans and shouted chants criticizing Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Protesters amassing in Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard - Photo by Social protest Facebook page
However, after several moments the police car managed to leave the scene, with Leef inside.
In July 2011, Leef led a group of young people who set up several tents on Rothschild Boulevard, in protest against the high cost of living in Israel.
That act sparked a massive protest movement which swept Israel for several months, with tent encampments sprouting up in cities and towns throughout the country and weekly demonstrations that grew to include hundreds of thousands of people.
View original HAARETZ publication at: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/hundreds-amass-on-tel-aviv-s-rothschild-blvd-in-bid-to-revive-social-protests-1.440457
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