The High Court approved the ongoing protests near the prime minister’s official apartment in Jerusalem’s Rehavia neighborhood, infuriating some local citizens who asked the court to ban them, saying they were disrupting their lives.
“I need to challenge this court decision,” Ohana told senior law enforcement officials. “Anyone who needs to protest can protest, no problem. But to make citizens’ lives miserable.
“[Protesters] are invading sidewalks with sleeping bags and mattresses. I don’t know how to explain to the public why we forbid prayer and cultural and artistic events, but we don’t ban it,” he said, referring to the restrictions imposed to curb the coronavirus epidemic.
Yadid can be heard responding to Ohana by mentioning the unusually high number of fines imposed on protest participants for not wearing a face mask, fines that the police have sometimes refrained from issuing demonstrations.
“Yesterday we [imposed] 160 fines for not disguising the demonstration, which is not common,” Yadid can be heard. “Usually, the protests [we] avoid that.”
However, this seemed to satisfy Ohana.
“District commander, you know I appreciate it, but vandalism for breaking glass,” Ohana said. “Vandalism also makes people’s lives miserable, desecrating the symbols of the state, as happened yesterday, blocking entrances to the Knesset, blocking roads and, of course, violence against policemen. It’s nothing you can accept. »
Israeli police commented on the report, insisting that despite the words of its district commander, it applies the mask disguise “also in demonstrations, without discrimination and without any connection to the identity of the protesters or the subject of the demonstration.”
On Sunday, Ohana warned that violent clashes from the protests against the prime minister could end up in a bloodbath, a day after thousands of people took part in national protests opposed to Netanyahu. Several others were arrested at the largest demonstration in Jerusalem when police confronted the protesters. Three others were arrested in separate incidents for attacking protesters in the capital and elsewhere.
“There’s a feeling and a good chance he’ll end up in a bloodbath,” Ohana said. “I’m involved with hate in the air.”
Ohana has continually said in recent days that the protests were part of a trend towards the “incitement” opposed to Netanyahu, who said it was worse than the time before the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
He also expressed fear that the protests, which have occurred almost every night in Jerusalem over the following week, pose a danger due to the spread of the coronavirus. Ohana noted that other types of public meetings have been banned to prevent the spread of the virus.
“There is Array and there will be, demonstrations opposed to the government,” he said. “We prohibit others from organizing social events, praying with more than ten people in combination, and doing what they do regularly to prevent the spread of the virus. Is the virus so smart that it can differentiate between meetings for those purposes? And a demonstration? The answer is no.’
On Saturday, Ohana said he was expecting police to act “equally” against protesters from other communities amid sustained protests in Jerusalem opposed to the minister.
The comment came after Ohana accused the police last week of being too lenient with the Jerusalem protesters compared to other demonstrations, i.e. through minority teams, in which the police have been accused of employing senior force.
According to another report last week, police had rejected a direct request from Ohana to move mass protests. Ohana also warned that protests against Netanyahu were absolutely prohibited, but the police legal adviser said the police had no legal authority to make such a decision, army radio reported.
Thousands of demonstrators piled up on protests across the country on Saturday night, adding at Charles Clore Park in Tel Aviv; near the Prime Minister’s personal apartment in Caesarea; and, among thousands, in front of the Prime Minister’s official apartment in Jerusalem.
Protest leaders accused police of applying a disproportionate force through water cannons to disperse demonstrators in Jerusalem and threatened to seek a Superior Court order to effectively oppose it.