BEERSHEBA, Israel – Tens of thousands of people gathered across Israel on Saturday to call for lower living costs in an effort to show the government their protest movement has nationwide support. The gatherings followed a recent rally in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial capital. In which more than 250,000 demonstrators called for economic reform.
It was the largest ever socio-economic protest in the country of 7.7 million. Past demonstrations on such a scale in Israel have usually been over issues of war and peace, but on Saturday, rallies from Haifa and Afula in the north of the country to the resort town of Eilat in the far south all focused on “social justice.”
The protests have put pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who last week named a 14-member panel of experts led by economist Manuel Trajtenberg to deliver proposals for changes within a month. The unrest comes despite projected economic growth of 4.8 percent this year and relatively low unemployment of 5.7 percent.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said some 50.000 had gathered at rallies across the country, with the largest number, 25,000, assembling in the port city of Haifa. Organizers and media said at least 70,000 had attended.
(Reuters)
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