Court issues 2nd temporary order against tent removal

Protesters and Tel Aviv City Hall battle in court, after tent protest turns violent; court hearing to be held on matter.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
protest city hall tel aviv 311 (photo credit: Ben Hartman)
protest city hall tel aviv 311
(photo credit: Ben Hartman)
The Tel Aviv District Court issued on Thursday evening a temporary injunction preventing the removal of the protest tents on Rothschild Boulevard, pending a response to a petition filed by protesters.
Judge Judith Shitzer said that a hearing would be held on Sunday morning in the Tel Aviv District Court.
RELATED:The tents may be down, but the social issues remain
That decision came hours after the Tel Aviv Local Affairs Court on Thursday afternoon revoked a temporary injunction issued early that morning against the removal of the tents on Rothschild.
That temporary injunction had been issued by the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court at 1 a.m. on Thursday, following a petition by a group of protesters. Following the revocation of the injunction, municipality clerks walked around the Rothschild, Ben-Gurion, and Nordau tent cities handing out fliers telling residents that they had 72 hours to leave voluntarily.
Judge Malka Spinzi had explained that she was delaying the evacuation because the camps had been given only a very short notice to evacuate, and so both sides should be given the opportunity to plead their case before the court.
In the new ruling on Thursday to revoke the injunction, Judge Guy Hyman said that the petitioners should take the issue to the Tel Aviv District Court for Administrative Matters.
In another development on Thursday, the police filed indictments at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court against seven of the 40 people arrested in Wednesday night's violent demonstration outside city hall in Tel Aviv.
The seven demonstrators are accused of taking part in the unlawful violent disturbance. One of them, Ben-Adam Backman, is further accused of shoving, punching and threatening a police officer.
“It could get worse. You don’t know what kind of connections I’ve got,” Backman told the policeman he punched, according to the indictment.
Also on Thursday, attorney Tal Hasin of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel advised protesters that they were entitled to seek compensation from the Tel Aviv Municipality or the police for any personal belongings damaged in the protest camp evacuations, and also for non-monetary damages.
Ben Hartman contributed to this report.
Click for full JPost coverage
Click for full JPost coverage