Wednesday 7 September 2011

Protesters try to storm Tel Aviv city hall


DEMONSTRATORS tried to storm Tel Aviv city hall on Wednesday in protest against the clearing of a protest camp in the Israeli city.

Reports AFP: "Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said several hundred demonstrators convened outside city hall, chanting slogans and hurling raw eggs and other projectiles.

"Police sought to bar entry to the building, while demonstrators attempted to block adjacent streets in response to the evacuation of the tent city set up in protest at the high cost of living.

"An estimated 450,000 people took to Israel's streets to protest the high cost of living on Saturday night, piling pressure on the government to take action and prompting the movement to say it would now look to other means to advance its agenda."

The unprecedented social protest movement is widely seen as Israel's version of the Arab Spring, with younger generations fed up with the inequality and militarism of the Israeli state and looking back to the Jewish socialism of the original post-war settlements.