Police, protesters scuffle outside PM’s home as anti-government rally turns chaotic

from the Times of Israel

The third day of a four-day anti-government demonstration in Jerusalem descended into chaos on Tuesday night when marchers attempting to bypass police barricades split into multiple directions in order to reach the private residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The march began with a series of speeches outside the Knesset given by family members of the hostages, anti-government activists and former prime minister Ehud Barak — a vocal critic of Netanyahu.

Though the procession from the Knesset began as a unified mass of people led by relatives of the hostages and veteran activists who rose to prominence last year amid Israel’s since-paused judicial overhaul, it fragmented when its thousands of marchers flooded the narrow streets of Jerusalem’s wealthy Rehavia neighborhood where the Netanyahus live.

After encountering barricades, a handful of protesters with megaphones ran to the front of the march and successfully directed a large contingent of the crowd to take a detour to Netanyahu’s home on Azza Street, catching law enforcement off-guard.

Organizers urged participants to run as quickly as they could to evade crowd control measures. Israel Police called this stage of the march an “unbridled riot.”...

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