Jerusalem, March 24 : A total of 82 Israelis were arrested during a nationwide “Day of Paralysis”, the police said, as the protests against the government’s judicial overhaul showed no signs of abating.
The demonstrations, organised by opponents of the far-right government’s plan to weaken the Supreme Court, were held in several cities across the country on Thursday.
Protesters waved Israeli flags and chanted “democracy” and “shame”.A large Israeli flag and a banner with the Declaration of Independence were also draped over a wall of Jerusalem’s Old City, Xinhua news agency reported.
In Tel Aviv, thousands of protesters clashed with the police after they blocked the Ayalon Highway, Israel’s main freeway, for about two hours.The police used water cannons to disperse the protesters.
The police also used water cannons in Haifa, a coastal city in northern Israel, to disperse thousands of protesters.The police said in a statement that the measure was aimed at clearing roads blocked by the protesters.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have attended weekly demonstrations across the country on Saturday nights since the start of 2023.
The judicial overhaul would give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-nationalist and ultra-religious coalition government, which was sworn-in last December, the power to appoint judges.
It will also diminish the authority of the Supreme Court to review new legislation and strike it down, even when the new laws are deemed unconstitutional.
Its opponent said the overhaul will devastate Israeli democracy and its intricate system of checks and balances.
They also worry that it will give Netanyahu, who is facing a criminal trial over corruption charges, too much influence over the legal system.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, says the reforms are needed in order to curb the “overly activist” Supreme Court and give a ruling government the ability to execute its policies.
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