Social protests set to resume across country

After a two-week lull due to the security situation, large marches are planned for Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Rishon Lezion.

By MELANIE LIDMAN
TENT CITY protesters distribute fliers in Jerusalem (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post))
TENT CITY protesters distribute fliers in Jerusalem
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post))
After skipping the last Saturday night protest march due to the security situation, the social protest movement vowed to return to the streets on Saturday night, albeit with much smaller numbers.
Large marches are planned for Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Rishon Lezion as a way to keep the momentum going for sustained social change.
“We’re doing everything we can, and the struggle is still alive and kicking,” said Itai Gutler, the head of the Hebrew University Student Union. Like other members of the protest movement, Gutler was adamant that despite the low profile of the protests over the past two weeks, the movement is still going strong.
“I don’t think we lost anything, the lacks are the same lacks, they haven’t changed,” he said.
The Jerusalem tent city met with various members of the Trajtenberg Committee over the past week, and on Tuesday night hosted 15 members of the Beersheba tent city for a discussion about the future of the social protest movement given the terrorist attacks of last week.
Bar Peled, spokeswoman for Ruah Hadasha, said the Jerusalem movement was plastering the city with posters and flyers, making rounds on the light rail, the Mahaneh Yehuda shouk, neighborhoods, synagogues and the city center, to reach as many people as possible ahead of Saturday’s march.
“We believe people will go to the streets, the protests haven’t stopped even though they’re quiet,” she said, noting that after two weeks in Jerusalem without any demonstrations, Saturday was a “critical protest.” Gutler said the activists expected thousands of participants.
“We’re still alive and breathing, the understanding is that we don’t just want a few economic deals, offering money here and there, we want serious change in the order of preferences and social justice, and that takes time,” Peled said.