Hundreds of taxi drivers blocked the Azrieli Junction in central Tel Aviv on Thursday, in protest of rising diesel oil prices.
The cabbies' main complaint is that the government's decision to suspend thetax imposed on petrol prices excludes those of diesel oil.
The drivers were waving signs reading "Bibi, diesel is skyrocketing," and "12 hours in a cab – overdraft in the bank."
- Bird's-eye view of Azrieli Junction (Photo: Joseph Samuel)
The cabs blocked the entire intersection, before embarking on a deliberately slow ride to city's Exhibition Center, where the drivers plan to hold a protest rally.
"We refuse to be considered second class citizens," Tehuda Bar-Or, chairman of the Taxi Drivers' Organization, told Ynet.
"Diesel prices go up as petrol prices do, but not vice versa. We demand diesel rates be lowered as well. This is the second time only petrol prices are lowered.
"The prime minister has to understand – diesel is petrol too. He's discriminating against the people driving diesel vehicles, and especially against taxi drivers. We'll stop being victims."
Ze'ev Grauer, who initiated the petrol prices' protest, expressed his support of the taxi drivers' protest: "We keep saying the prime minister and the Treasury are mocking the poor – they think that by giving the masses crumbs they can pacify us."