Protestors block Tel Aviv street

Hundreds of demonstrators rally to protest against Israel's skyrocketing cost of living

Boaz Fyler|Published: 04.07.12 , 22:42

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in Tel Aviv Saturday evening, protesting against Israel's skyrocketing cost of living and blocking one of the city's main streets, Ibn Gvirol.

Police officials said the protest was illegal and sent in forces to disperse participants; at least five demonstrators were detained at the site.

Protestors block Tel Aviv street (Photo: Moti Kimchi)

The demonstrators, who marched along Ibn Gvirol Street, chanted "We're the majority and we're back to the streets," and "A year has passed and nothing has changed," referring to last year's social protest which swept the country and spread nationwide.

One of the rally's organizers, Oren Pasternak, told Ynet: "Instead of handling the real problems, Netanyahu's government of cutbacks embarks on spins and continues its divide-and-conquer approach against the haredim, against the Arabs and against the Russians."

Police forces at site (Photo: Moti Kimchi)

At the start of the rally, some protestors confronted activists affiliated with the leftist Hadash party and demanded that the latter avoid any party affiliation. One protest organizer, Moshe Cohen, told Ynet: "I'm a Likud activist, and just like I didn't arrive with signs of my party, I'm not allowing them to paint this protest as a leftist one"

"This is a popular protest and we shall not endorse a planned provocation," he said.

Social activists Shimshon Bunker and Yehuda Aloush, who arrived from Beersheba, predicted that this year's social protest will be stronger than the one that emerged last summer.

"We won't settle for peanuts," Bunker said.

Saturday's protest marked the second week in a row where hundreds of demonstrators hit the streets to express their displeasure with rising fuel and electricity prices.