Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Jerusalem to demand the dismissal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over allegations of corruption and his abuse of the coronavirus pandemic.
Protestants were seen late in the night on Saturday and early Sunday clashing with police outside the residence of the embattled prime minister, who had recently claimed a historic diplomatic deal with the United Arab Emirates.
Images from news agencies and social media showed several protesters being dragged by police as protests against Netanyahu continued for the eighth week.
According to reports, some of the Protestants had also tried to march after the stay of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, but were stopped by police.
The Haaretz newspaper estimates that as many as 50,000 Israelis protested across the country on Saturday.
Netanyahu dismissed the protesters as “leftists” and “anarchists” and accused local media of intensifying the protests by giving them heavy coverage.
The Israeli prime minister was sworn in for a fifth term in May after complaining four months ago about a coalition deal with centrist Benny Gantz, his main rival in three undecided elections since April 2019.
Netanyahu, who is on the right wing of the Likud party, has often complained about press bias against him, and some of the accusations he faces in a corruption case, related to failed attempts to seek favorable coverage of media barons in exchange for state favor.
The prime minister has wrongly convicted in the three corruption cases against him.
In recent days, Netanyahu has received a political impetus after Israel announced a historic normalization of diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates.
But the prime minister is still critical of his treatment of the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 92,000 people and killed more than 670 others.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
.
