15,000 protest deportation of asylum seekers in Tel Aviv

Among the slogans: "Money for the neighborhoods — not for another Holot [Detention Center]" and "No expulsion, no Holot — rebuild the neighborhoods."

FEBRUARY 24, 2018 21:45

Updated: FEBRUARY 25, 2018 15:03

15,000 protest the deportation of African migrants in south Tel Aviv, February 24, 2018 (Rebecca Montag)

Some 15,000 demonstrators protested the expulsion of mostly Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers and migrant workers, many of whom were present at the protest, from Israel. The demonstration was organized by Residents of South Tel Aviv Against Deportation and led by Shula Keshet, a resident of the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood in South Tel Aviv.

Israel"s migrant deportation plays on Jewish "moral compass" February 6, 2018 (Reuters)

Among the slogans were "Money for the neighborhoods — not for another Holot [Detention Center]" and "No expulsion, no Holot — rebuild the neighborhoods."

"I stand here shouting a scream that echoed a wound, rage and protest against the constant and longstanding abuse of the residents of South Tel Aviv," Keshet said. "Of trafficking drugs and trafficking women, into a crowded ghetto by channeling tens of thousands of people, migrant workers and asylum seekers here, into a violent space."

Omar Adam, an asylum seeker from Sudan, had a message for his neighbors in South Tel Aviv.

"I want to say something straight to my neighbors from the Shapira neighborhood who are here today," he said. "I know you do not want to — I know that you do not want me to have a bad thing ... The people of South Tel Aviv who are here today know that what is being said in the media is not reality."

Eric Sumner translated this report.