'No reason to celebrate.' Keret
Photo: Gil Yohanan
The violent incidents during the social justice protests last week, and the movement's criticism toward the police and Tel Aviv Municipality supervisors, led a group of public figures to cancel their participation in Tel Aviv's annual White Night event.
"There is no reason to celebrate," wrote Etgar Keret, Alex Epstein, Orly Castel-Bloom, Dov Alfon and Yaheli Sobol, who were scheduled to participate in a literary evening as part of the White Night festivities.
Social Justice
Social protest turns violent: Demonstrators shatter windows in Tel Aviv, charge into banks; clashes between activists, police reported at several sites. Riots follow rally against police violence; 85 arrested
"Tel Aviv is a beloved and important city for all of us, but in our opinion it has no reason to celebrate at the moment," they wrote.
Live music club Ozen Bar also announced that it has canceled special shows that were scheduled for the evening: "In light of recent occurrences and voices of protest (and the way they were handled), we decided to cancel our participation in the White Night.
"We feel that there is no reason to celebrate and apologize to all the artists that were preparing to perform at our club."
The wave of cancellations came after a poster titled "Black Night" was posted on Facebook, calling artists and the wide public to boycott the events of White Night following the authority's violence against protesters over the weekend.