TEL AVIV - Right-wing activists locked government offices across the country early Sunday using superglue to protest the upcoming Gaza and northern West Bank pullout.
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The activists apparently hit offices in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak, Herzliya, Bat Yam, and other cities across Israel. The offices hit include the Interior Ministry, Income Tax Authority, National Insurance Institute, and the Postal Authority.
Tel Aviv police said guards were able to foil the protest at most locations, including a government office complex in central Tel Aviv. However, some damage was done to several locks at several locations, police said.
Meanwhile, five youngsters of about 15 were detained in Jerusalem on suspicion of planning to lock government offices. The boys were apparently able to lock Education Ministry and Stock Exchange facilities.
Three of the youngsters were caught in possession of superglue and pliers.
‘Entire country will be paralyzed’
Posters posted by activists on government office doors read: “The expulsion won’t pass. If access roads to Gush Katif will be closed – all other roads in the country will be closed with them. If schools in Gush Katif are locked out – all other schools in the country will be locked with them. If the various government offices will continue cooperating with the corrupt regime – their branches across the country will be paralyzed. If residents of the State of Israel don’t wake up from the nightmare, the entire country will be closed down, locked out, paralyzed!”
The protesters also left letters to branch managers requesting that the “non-violent protest move” be met with understanding.
“In the face of a normal regime it is possible to express the voice of the people in demonstrations and protests…but in the face of a dictatorial, anti-democratic and wholly anti-moral regime, citizens who are concerned with the state’s welfare have only one path left: non-violent civil disobedience until the violent and corrupt regime is toppled,” the letters read.
Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway blocked
Protest organizers tried to downplay the inconvenience, saying that “if someone waits an hour in the queue at the Interior Ministry or post office, or is stuck at a traffic jam for two hours, it’s not that bad…but if all of us pay the terrible price of the plan’s (pullout) implementation – it will be terrible.”
Organizers also noted the latest protest was another step in a series of moves aimed at “throwing this terrible plan to history’s garbage bin.”
“The dictatorial regime is pushing us to the corner and with an uncontrollable urge to act against all security predictions in a non-democratic and immoral way,” one organizer said.
Saturday evening, dozens of right-wing activists blocked the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway in both directions. Large police forces were subsequently dispatched to the scene and detained dozens of protesters.
However, other activists remained in the area and managed to block the road several more times, despite the police presence.
_A.jpg "Photo: Yaron Brenner")
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