TEL AVIV (Dispatches) -- Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across Occupied Palestine as part of a day of “escalating resistance to dictatorship,” blocking roads and protesting the regime’s continued advance of controversial legislation to radically increase hardline prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s powers.
At least 21 people were detained in several incidents, including two motorists accused of pepper-spraying demonstrators who blocked the road.
In Tel Aviv, police charged on demonstrators who burst through barricades onto the Ayalon Highway, shutting it down for at least half an hour.
The protesters chanted “We are not afraid” as they were attacked by officers. At least 10 demonstrators were detained in those incidents.
Police also arrested protesters in the northern city of Haifa.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned what he called rising violence against protesters and blamed the regime for it.
“It’s even worse than we think,” said Lior Alon, 59, who came to the protest with his adult son.
“Regime change is the first step. Next will come religious laws making this a theocracy. Then the fascists will run free and conquer Arab villages,” he said, holding tight onto an Israeli flag.
Protests were also held outside the U.S. consulate and British embassy in Tel Aviv, with demonstrators urging them to pressure the current regime.
Acts of protest began before dawn, with demonstrators painting a bright red line on the street leading to the supreme court in Al-Quds, saying it symbolized the direct link between the independence of the courts and free speech.
Leading the early-morning protests were a group of IDF reservists known as “Brothers in Arms.” One group of navy veterans blocked the entrance to Haifa Port.
Organizers had called on Israelis to take part in the day’s protests, saying it was the only chance to “stop the regime coup” after Netanyahu and members of his right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox coalition quickly rejected a long-percolating proposal made by president Isaac Herzog on Wednesday for a broadly agreed-upon alternative framework to the coalition’s contentious package of legislation.
Protesters held demonstrations in and around Ben Gurion airport on Wednesday afternoon in an effort to disrupt Netanyahu’s flight to Germany on a state visit.
Hundreds of Israeli military reservists announced that they will not report for reserve duty as of Sunday in protest against Netanyahu’s plan.
Officers and soldiers in the military intelligence’s special operations division and cyber warfare units said they will stop showing up for volunteer duty as of next week.
Organizers of the group, which said they include 450 reservists in special operations and 200 in cyber warfare, will therefore “not show up for volunteer reserve service” as of this coming Sunday.
Separately, 100 senior reserve officers in an elite unit of the Zionist air force issued a letter, saying they were unsure they could continue to serve moving forward under such a regime.
In an address on Wednesday night, President Isaac Herzog warned of a brewing “civil war” and an approaching “abyss” if a compromise on the radical judicial changes could not be reached.
“Those who think that a real civil war, with human lives, is a border we won’t cross, have no idea,” said the president in his address. In the Zionist regime’s 75th year, “the abyss is within touching distance,” he said. “A civil war is a red line. At any price, and by any means, I won’t let it happen.”
Former director of Israel’s so-called internal security service, Shin Bet, termed the planned judicial overhaul as “regime change.”
Speaking to Channel 12, former director of Israel’s so-called Shin Bet internal security service Nadav Argaman described the planned reforms as “a car hurtling toward the abyss”.
“This is a world turned upside down, a crazy work. The anarchist has become the rulers,” said.
Argaman said if he were still head of the Shin Bet he would be most concerned about the rift in Israel.
“The greatest concern is that if these laws are passed, Israel will find itself on the threshold of dictatorship and if Israel finds itself on the threshold of dictatorship, we could witness the collapse from within,” he added.