Thousands of parents on Thursday concluded their march in centers across the country as part of a national "stroller march" held to protest what organizers say is the exorbitant cost of raising children in Israel.
In central Tel Aviv, some 1500 parents with strollers marched from the corner of King George Street and Ben-Tzion Boulevard to Rothschild Boulevard where they joined with tent city protesters.
RELATED:J'lem: Police stop donkey convoy en route to gay paradeSteinitz to Histadrut: If you want to talk, let's talkHunger-striking IMA head to reach J’lem on footThe marchers carried signs reading "Bibi go home" and "Kids are for the rich only."
Additional marches took place in Rishon Lezion, Givatayim, Holon, Modi'in, Ariel, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Herzliya, Kfar Saba, Ra'anana, Rehovot, Haifa, Nes Tsiona, Sderot, Beersheva, and Petah Tikva.
In Hafia, nearly 300 parents and their children gathered the city's Gan Haem to march toward the Merkaz Hacarmel auditorium.
The protests come after organizers described on a Facebook page for the march the situation of skyrocketing real estate prices combined with nurseries that charge, on average, NIS 3,000 per month per child, as well as the high cost of formula and diapers, and the high number of school vacation days that require finding a babysitter.
The
organizers list as their demands a law that will make education free
from the age of three months (today it is from age three); price
regulation for products like diapers and formula; an extension of
maternity leave; an end to the extra fee for strollers on public
transport; equal pay for mothers; and further tax credits for parents.Thursday's stroller march was held during three other
simultaneous protests converging on Jerusalem - the
doctor's march, the tent protest, and the Gay pride parade.
Organizers in Jerusalem's tent protest announced that the tent activists would also join the pride parade to show their support with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
Nadav Shemer and Melanie Lidman contributed to this report.