Thousands of demonstrators carrying torches protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s continued leadership amid his indictment for fraud, bribery and breach of trust for the 27th consecutive week on Saturday near his residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem.
As clashes broke out early on in the demonstration, six protesters were detained. Israel Police stated that they blocked the intersection of Tudela and Gaza streets – two streets neighboring the protest epicenter of Paris Square.
The demonstration began earlier than usual in an attempt by protesters to surprise the police and circumvent its blockades, which are usually erected later in the evening.
Despite police preparations, protesters were able to reach and block the main entrance into the prime minister’s residence, which has been covered in a black curtain, chanting at police forces to “drop the curtain.”
A fire and rescue team arrived and extinguished several fires that were started by protesters at the scene.
According to Haaretz, the protesters’ intention was to reach and block all the entrances to the residence, which have been closed over the past month in an effort to minimize protests, nicknaming their operation “the siege on Balfour.”
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A video posted by Haaretz reporter Nir Hasson showed protesters sitting on the road as police lifted them one by one and evacuated them by force to the area behind the blockades.
— نير حسون Nir Hasson ניר חסון (@nirhasson) December 26, 2020
In another video, posted by the Black Flags movement, one of the largest movements leading the protests, protesters chanted for police to let a medic pass through the blockade to tend to an injured protester as police clash with demonstrators outside Balfour.
“False arrests and harming journalists have become the new routine of the Jerusalem police,” the Black Flags Movement said in response to the protest clashes. “We call on the incoming police chief to announce that his first step in cleaning up the Israel Police will be to remove [Jerusalem District Police Chief Doron] Yedid from the service in disgrace.”
Alongside the Jerusalem protest, protesters on bridges and squares across the country continued to support the protest from afar.
In Givat Ada, two Netanyahu supporters were filmed, also by the Black Flags movement, assaulting several older protesters, before being chased away by several other protesters who rushed to defend them.
The assailants, a 17-year-old resident of Pardes Hanna and a 52-year-old woman from Zichron Ya’acov, were later detained and taken in for questioning by Israel Police.
In Rishon Leziyon, more video published by the Black Flags Movement showed a man wielding a knife returning to his car after stopping his car in the middle of the road to threaten protesters.
