Thousands of protesters blocked Tel Aviv’s main highway and major intersections across Israel in a spontaneous outburst of anger following the forced resignation of the city’s popular police chief.
Ami Eshed announced late Wednesday that he was leaving the Israeli police force under what he said was political pressure. Eshed has regularly clashed with the country’s hard-line national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has demanded that police take a tougher stance against months of anti-government protests.”I am paying an intolerably heavy personal price for my choice to avert a civil war,” Eshed said.
Thousands of people blocked the Ayalon Highway on Wednesday, halting traffic on the normally bustling throughway. The protesters blew horns, danced in the street and lit multiple bonfires. Police, some mounted on horseback, attempted to push back the crowds, and used water cannon.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government announced plans in January to overhaul the country’s judicial system. The protests have blocked roads, disrupted the country’s main airport and thronged major cities.
Netanyahu suspended the plan in March after mass protests erupted when he tried to fire his defense minister for challenging the plan. But talks with the political opposition fizzled last month, and Netanyahu’s allies have begun moving ahead with the plan again. Ben-Gvir responded to the resignation, saying politics had “infiltrated the most senior ranks” of the police force and said Eshed had made a “complete surrender” to leftist politicians.
