VIDEO - Dozens of Sderot's residents were pushed away by police officers as they tried to break into the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon.
Earlier the residents blocked the entrance to the capital in protest of the Qassam rockets fired at their city from the Gaza Strip, following the serious injury of an eight-year-old boy Saturday. Dozens of Jerusalem's residents joined the protestors in solidarity.
Several minutes later, after sitting on the road at the entrance to the city, the demonstrators got up and began marching towards the Prime Minister's Office.
The residents brought along remnants of Qassam rockets in order to present them outside the Prime Minister's Office. They threw the rockets on the road and shouted, "Color Red" (the Qassam alert system).
Many children took part in the demonstration. One of them told Ynet, "That's it. We've had enough. They are firing Qassams at us. This is no joke, the Qassam kills."
Six-grade girls from the "Torani Hadash" school carried signs reading, "We are not ducks at a shooting range."
Angry residents block entrance to Jerusalem (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Sderot's residents arrived in Jerusalem in a convoy of cars and buses, and made the way from the capital's entrance into the city by foot.
Sderot resident Alon Davidi held up a Qassam rocket and said that "7,000 such rockets have arrived in Sderot and its surroundings. It appears that we are too good, but we won't break down. We shall defeat Hamas.
"(Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert said during the Presidents Conference that he is tired. Well, we are not tired. We are strong. We have a coward for a prime minister and a coward for a defense minister. Is there any reason to abandon children? Is there any reason why the Tuito family was hit by a Qassam and their child lost his leg ?"
'Stop the governmental failure'
Davidi called on Israeli citizens "to stop the governmental failure which abandons Sderot's residents. Olmert should come here and explain to these cute children why they are not protected.
"It's not only Sderot. It's now Ashkelon and the surrounding kibbutzim as well. We are not asking for something which is illogical. We want to live peacefully."
He said that the residents would not leave the intersection until a government representative arrives and gives them a security plan which will respond to the rockets fired from Gaza.
Davidi called on the coalition members, on the Shas party and on Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter, "Who knows how to say nice words", "Do you have a security plan to help us against Hamas?"
Children join protest (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Haim Sassi of Sderot said that he expected residents from northern Israel and other parts of the country to come to his city and express their solidarity.
"During the war in the north we left our children, we left our families. When they were fired with Katyusha rockets, we went up to the north to defend the border. We expect residents from across the State of Israel to come to Sderot and express their solidarity with our desire to lead a normal life. What are they waiting for?"
Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal said that he was waiting for a permit to build a protest tent outside the Prime Minister's Office.
"I plan to move there and be with Sderot's residents who are demonstrating in Jerusalem. We decided on this move in light of yesterday's event, in light of the residents' feelings that not enough is being done," he said.
Earlier Sunday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited Sderot. He was greeted by angry residents who called on him to "go home." Barak toured the place where a rocket landed Saturday, seriously injuring brothers Osher and Rami Tuito.
First published: 12:23, 02.10.8