Periphery prepares for mass protests

Tens of thousands of Israelis expected to take part in Saturday evening's rallies against cost of living in Beersheba, Afula and Haifa

Ynet reporters |Last update: 08.13.11 , 20:13

Social protest moves to periphery: Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend rallies against the cost of living and soaring housing prices in the southern city of Beersheba and northern city of Afula on Saturday night. A large demonstration is also expected to take place in Haifa.

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"It's going to be Beersheba's biggest protest ever. We're going to make history," Kfir Ben Zino, one of the protest leaders in the Negev's capital told Ynet.

"The city will fill up with protestors arriving from all across the country – from Tel Aviv, Sderot, Ashdod, Mitzpe Ramon, Arad and other places."

Preparing for protest in Beersheba tent city (Photo: Roi Idan)

Singer Margalit Tzanani, who criticized the social protest but has since apologized, will perform at the Beersheba rally.

Smaller protests will also be held in Nahariya, Hod Hasharon, Modiin, Beit Shemesh, Ashkelon and Eilat. A "stroller march" will take place in Ariel.

The police have approved a rally of up to 30,000 people in Beersheba, but the protest leaders hope to see a larger number of participants. Some 10,000 people are expected to attend the Afula rally and 20 to 30,000 people are expected to take part in the Haifa protest, according to police estimates.

TA protest leaders: Barriers broken

After last week's 300,000-people protest, the organizers of Tel Aviv's tent city decided to give up on the limelight this Saturday in favor of the periphery.

"Today, the fake barriers between Tel Aviv and the rest of the country will finally be broken," Regev Contes, one of the Tel Aviv protest leaders, told Ynet.

"The Tel Aviv bubble, which only existed in the media, is evaporating and making room for a united people of Israel against the only force it is really confronting – the tycoon-backed government," said Contes.

"We call on all of Israel's residents to flock to the rally closest to their homes, whether by car or by foot, and to take part in the change we all hope for."

The Tel Aviv protest organizers plan to take part in the Beersheba and Afula rallies.

Stav Saffir, another Tel Aviv protest leader, said: "Today we are about to do what the State has failed to do since its establishment decades ago, and stop treating the center and the periphery as two different entities with different rights, a different status and different importance in the eyes of the government.

"In the past few weeks we have all been working on solidarity and cooperation in 90 different tent cities, and today we shall all march as one across the country and cry out as one united state."

Ilana Curiel, Ahiya Raved, Hassan Shaalan and Boaz Fyler contributed to this report