Some 300 supporters of Prime Minister Netanyahu are demonstrating outside his official residence in Jerusalem, where regular demonstrations against him have been taking place.
Police had approved a rally of up to 3,000 people.
Ahead of the rally, police forcibly cleared a sit-in of anti-Netanyahu protesters outside the Prime Minister’s Residence. Among those removed by police were former Shin Bet chief Carmi Gillon, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Amir Haskel and Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu, whom officers forcibly escorted from the area despite him telling them he is a legislator with immunity.
The removal of Lahav-Hertzanu was condemned by a number of lawmakers, including by Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, a Likud party ally of Netanyahu’s.
Levin wrote on Facebook that he spoke with Lahav-Hertzanu to express his “shock.”
“This is an incident that undermines the basic ability of a Knesset member to fulfill his role, something that must not be accepted in a democratic system,” Levin says.
Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu is removed by police from an anti-Netanyahu protest outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, on August 20, 2020. (Screen capture: Twitter)
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