A woman in her 20s was arrested at an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv overnight Thursday after she allegedly attacked a police officer who asked her to put on a mask, which she declined to do.
According to the police, the woman began kicking the officer and punching him in the face. She also reportedly refused to identify herself and resisted arrest.
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Several thousand protesters took part in demonstrations nationwide on Thursday, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resign. Police arrested three participants on suspicion of disturbing the peace, assaulting police officers, and violations of the law. In addition, police handed out over 100 fines to protesters who violated public health regulations – among other things, for not wearing masks and being more than 1,000 meters from their homes.
One protester was lightly wounded from police pepper spray.
Police said that "The protesters decided to flagrantly break the law and hold illegal marches along main traffic arteries for hours, without any prior coordination with the police – trampling the COVID regulations. They marched for kilometers, close together, some weren't wearing masks, and they ignored instructions from the police."
This tweet from Kan News shows a clash between protesters and a civilian.
תיעוד: עימות בכפר סבא בין מפגינים לבין אדם שעצר את מכוניתו לידם, ולטענתם פעל נגדם באלימות@ittaishick pic.twitter.com/nVBNUbKy55
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 8, 2020
However, the Israel Police announced Thursday that it had completed the groundwork that would allow the anti-government protests to continue in accordance with Health Ministry regulations.
The Knesset passed a law last week allowing the government to declare a special week-long state of emergency to limit participation in assemblies because of the pandemic. The government then declared the state of emergency, limiting all public gatherings to within a kilometer (half a mile) of a person's home.
Netanyahu has said the restrictions are driven by safety concerns as the country battles a runaway pandemic, but critics and protesters accuse him of tightening the lockdown to muzzle dissent.
Since the restriction was approved last month, tens of thousands of Israelis have staged protests on street corners and public squares near their homes against the government's perceived mishandling of the coronavirus crisis and its economic fallout.
On Thursday, a protester painted the Hebrew word "Go" – an increasingly popular slogan among anti-Netanyahu protesters – in large letters across Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.
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