Israeli police arrest 89 as protesters block streets in Tel Aviv

The Israeli police arrested at least 89 demonstrators after more than 6,500 people converged in and around Tel Aviv's Habima Square on Saturday night, protesting the arrest of Daphni Leef, a leader of last summer's social protest movement. The protesters blocked Ibn Gabirol Street north to Rabin Square, before moving and blocking Ayalon highway. Around 20 demonstrators were removed by police after breaking into branches of Hapoalim, Leumi and Discount banks, the Israeli daily (Haaretz) reported Sunday. Protest leader Stav Shaffir on Sunday denounced protester violence, but accused the government of trying to delegitimize the social protest movement. "We are opposed to all expression of violence and destruction of property," Shaffir said in a statement. "The government, and its leader, are trying to delegitimize the largest social protest in Israel's history." Saying that the government wants to silence criticism, Shaffir added, "The events of last night prove that the public does not buy these lies and it is determined to struggle toward the future of Israeli society, and the right to organize in the public sphere." The protest last night was the most violent encounter between social justice protesters and police since the protest movement began last summer, according to the (Jerusalem Post). Over two thousand protesters clashed with police in central Tel Aviv Saturday night, against what they said was police brutality at a protest the day before, it said. Protesters broke windows at three different bank branches in central Tel Aviv and managed to block off the Ayalon Freeway for around a half hour during the mayhem. By the end of the night police announced the arrests of 85 protesters, including over 30 who were seen being driven away from the City Hall in a Dan bus that had been commandeered by police. Most of the arrests took place outside the city hall and the Bank Leumi branch at Gan Hair Mall next door, where protestors had rushed inside with a tent and smashed two outside windows. The mass protest took place a day after police arrested protest leader Daphni Leef and 12 others at a demonstration Friday, during which activists attempted to re-establish the protest camp on Rothschild Boulevard that served as a symbol of the 2011 summer protest movement. Leef was also at Saturday night’s protest, where her arm was heavily bandaged from an injury she said she suffered during her arrest. Leef also said the incident left her with two bruised ribs. Police said Saturday night that they did not think that Leef’s arrest had played a role in making the protests the next night as intense as they were, saying that certain protestors had planned ahead of time on making the protest violent.