Hundreds of small, "capsule" anti-government protests took place in cities and communities all over Israel on Tuesday evening, in line with lockdown restrictions, allowing people to demonstrate 1 kilometer from their homes, while keeping a safe distance.
The downsized and dispersed protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took place three days after a mass demonstration in Tel Aviv, which defied lockdown directives, descended into violence, resulting in 38 arrests.
This time around police officers initially kept their distance from the protests, with a source within the force saying that officers would "not get involved as long as rules are adhered to." But after several hours clashes once again broke out in Tel Aviv as protesters attempted to breach police barriers.
Protestors attempted to march from Tel Aviv's Habima Square onto Rothchild Boulevard, but were turned back by police officers, who surronded the whole area.
Several of the demonstrators managed to escape the perimeter and march onto nearby streets, where they were fined by the officers. Protestors also reported that food was thrown at them from a balcony of one of the residential buildings.
Earlier, protesters in Ramat Gan reported that strangers pelted them with eggs and cursed them. Dorit, one of the demonstrators, said she believed the eggs came from one of the windows of a nearby building.
"Vehicles drive by us, call us names and make obscene gestures," she said. "We called the police and wait for them to arrive here."
In Tel Aviv earlier officers arrived at Rabin Square where hundreds of protestors had already gathered, to make sure those at the plaza were no more than 1 kilometer away from their homes and were demonstrating in line with the coronavirus restrictions.
Hundreds of protestors had also gathered at Habima Square, where violent clashes took place between demonstrators and police on Saturday.
At Kibbutz Metzer in northern Israel, some 150 people arrived for the local rally, including the community's elders on mobility scooters draped in black flags.
Anti-Netanyahu protestors in Kibbutz Metzer
Demonstrators also gathered near the West Bank settlement of Adumim and Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev.
In Jerusalem, protest leaders organized what they call a "Balfour Rally", with dozens of participants running or biking across the city toward Netanyahu's official residence at Balfour Street.
A resident of Jerusalem's Ir Ganim neighborhood said that "in line with the lockdown directives, we decided to demonstrate by running through the city's main squares and continue to demonstrate against a prime minister who is charged with corruption."
The leaders of the protest movements said they will not tolerate violent conduct by the police, which they added was targeted at them during Saturday's protest in Tel Aviv.
"Over the past few days, the police have used unrestrained violence against the protestors," they said in a statement. "We call on the police to behave as the 'police of the people.' We will not stand for the violence used against both secular and ultra-Orthodox demonstrators. We will not stand silent against this harsh treatment."
A police spokesperson said that officers will enforce social distancing and face mask rules during the rallies in accordance with the outline.
"A static protest in line with coronavirus restrictions is allowed, but marches are not approved and are illegal," the spokesperson said.
"Unfortunately we are forced to deal with calls by organizers to turn the various small protests into 'a mass march across the streets of Tel Aviv,' pushing the participants to break the law."
First published: 21:02, 10.06.20