Police clash with demonstrators at Tel Aviv anti-war rally despite High Court order allowing protests

Police clash with demonstrators protesting the Iran war in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square, arresting several of them amid an ongoing High Court case concerning the right to protest during wartime.

The High Court of Justice this evening issued an interim order effectively forbidding law enforcement from forcibly dispersing protests of less than 600 attendees at Habima, and less than 150 attendees in Jerusalem, Haifa and Kfar Saba.

Police say the demonstration has now exceeded 600 people and declare it unlawful. The commander at the scene orders protesters to vacate the plaza and police begin to violently disperse the crowd.

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Footage from the protest shows police forcefully shoving demonstrators. Mounted officers also arrive at the scene.

Police say they have arrested one demonstrator, however more recent footage shows a bus carrying several detained demonstrators parked near the plaza, including protest organizer Alon Lee Green.

Before officers began to break up the crowd, Green was seen giving an impromptu speech to demonstrators decrying police’s behavior. “The police are again threatening us, as if our demonstration isn’t legal. There is no illegal demonstration,” he shouts through a megaphone.

“We don’t trust this government, not Netanyahu, not Ben Gvir and not Smotrich. They don’t want us to demonstrate, we know this and we are here to say: Enough with the forever war,” he continues.