(Adnkronos) – Dumpsters and tires were set on fire in Jerusalem this morning to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his failure to reach an agreement to bring back the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. This was reported by the Israeli police, condemning the “acts of vandalism” and reporting that there were no injuries. Activists also gathered under the house of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who is in charge of securing the release of the hostages. A group of activists from the Coalition of Mothers and Women barricaded themselves on the roof of the National Library, near the Knesset in Jerusalem, demanding an agreement for the release of the hostages and an end to the war.
“The Israeli police will allow anyone to exercise their right to freedom of expression within the framework of a legitimate protest,” a statement said. “At the same time, the police will not allow damage to public order, including the burning of garbage cans, acts of vandalism, roadblocks or any other illegal action that endangers public safety or disrupts daily life,” the statement continued.
Two giant banners were unfurled from the roof of the National Library with the slogan “Negligence and killings” next to a photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The activists remained on the roof, while dozens of others gathered in the garden below. In a statement, the protesters said: “698 days of failure. 698 days in which Israeli citizens have been abandoned to death,” but ”the Israeli government and its leader refuse to discuss the agreement on the table. They choose instead to continue a political war with no purpose or operational justification, abandoning the hostages in Hamas tunnels, abandoning the IDF soldiers, killing them – killing us. Enough! We will solve the problem.”
Activists under Dermer’s house read aloud the names of the 48 remaining hostages and displayed a banner that read: “48 hostages – Dermer 0”. The protesters then stated that “since Dermer’s appointment, no hostage has returned home. It’s time to promote an agreement and bring everyone back, even at the cost of stopping the war”.
