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Injuries and arrests during anti-racist protest in Jerusalem

May 1, 2015 at 3:32 pm

Israeli police used force on Thursday evening to disperse Ethiopian demonstrators in Jerusalem who were protesting against what they believe is institutionalised racism and police brutality. According to Israeli media outlets, the police order to leave the area quietly was not obeyed by the demonstrators.

Thirteen demonstrators and two policemen were injured in the subsequent clashes. Reports say that protesters threw stones and empty bottles at the police; one group held a banner with “Gestapo” written on it, an allusion to the German secret police during the Nazi era. Six demonstrators were arrested.

The demonstration began in northern Jerusalem when hundreds of Ethiopian migrants gathered outside the police headquarters in protest at racial discrimination and use of violence against members of their community. This, they claim, is due to their ethnic origins and the colour of their skin. The demonstration then moved to the city centre, where the protesters tried to march towards the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That’s when the police tried to stop them.

Protesters succeeded in occupying Street No. 1 in Jerusalem and went so far as to prevent the movement of the city’s rapid transit system in some areas. The protest was organised after a video was released showing members of the Jerusalem police force as they beat an Ethiopian man for no apparent reason. Police chief Yohanan Danino tried to dismiss concerns by saying that officers have launched an open investigation into the incident.

Insisting that “skin colour is not an identity”, the protesters called the police “racist” for considering black people to be “de facto criminals”. The Ethiopian community warned that if this institutionalised racism continues, they will refuse to serve in the Israeli army.

Images by ApaImages.