All activists arrested in Ethiopian-Israeli protest released from custody

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court orders the release of all the 11 activists arrested yesterday in the Ethiopian-Israeli community’s protest against police violence and discrimination against them, which turned violent toward its end after hours of peaceful demonstration.

The rally at Rabin Square, which followed a march that shuttered major thoroughfares and junctions, turned violent when a few dozen of the protesters began a vandalism spree down Ibn Gabirol Boulevard.

Police described the rioters as a “a small minority” and said six police officers had been lightly wounded trying to quell the disturbances. Eleven of the protesters were arrested.

Police asked for the detainees to be remanded for six days, but the judge, Alaa Masarwe, rules that their actions don’t justify their continued detention.

“Almost all the suspects are without criminal background and their actions, despite their severity and without making light of them, were committed in a specific situation that cannot be disconnected from the wider context,” Masarwe says.

“It was a quiet protest that escalated toward its end, and some of the actions aren’t of high severity,” he adds.