Ayalon Highway cleared after 3 hours; 30 arrested; MK says grenade needlessly thrown at crowd

Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway is cleared of protesters after being blocked for around three hours, Hebrew media reports, adding that the number of arrested demonstrators in the city has risen to some 30, in addition to five in Jerusalem and others elsewhere around the country.

While they were on the highway, some protesters threw rocks, fences, nails and metal objects onto the road, lit bonfires and shot fireworks in the air, Ynet reports.

Police in response fired at least four stun grenades, lightly hurting several people including Labor MK Naama Lazimi and her adviser, knocking them down on the road.

“There was then another blast that was close and almost hit us directly,” Lazimi writes on X, adding that a police officer then noticed what was happening and pulled them away, and that “miraculously, nothing happened beyond a few superficial bruises.” She argues that no friction was going on when the grenades were hurled “completely by surprise and without any warning.”

Lazimi says police are “endangering the public’s safety” and acting illegally to serve far right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is in charge of police.

Police say an officer lost her consciousness during a riot and was hospitalized, without detailing what had happened.

A 51-year-old demonstrator was moderately injured and hospitalized after falling from a height of 2.5 meters, Ynet reports.