Ahead of airport protest, top cop vows no tolerance for attacks on ‘state symbols’

2 July 2023, 8:47 pm

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Police chief Kobi Shabtai is warning that police will show protesters “zero tolerance” if they harm state symbols or infrastructure, as authorities gird for anti-government protests meant to sow chaos at Ben Gurion airport.

“The police chief emphasized allowing the right to protest as a central pillar of a democratic state,” a police statement reads following a meeting of police brass to discuss the airport protests. “He warned that blocking access routes around the airport and inside it and in areas with strategic or security facilities could cause a disaster in an emergency.”

The statement adds that Shabtai vowed officers would act with “zero tolerance [in cases of] harm to symbols of the state, its infrastructure or police.”