Thousands of people demonstrated today (Friday) in Umm al-Fahm, for the eighth week in a row. This, after dozens were injured last week in a “brutal demonstration of police violence”, including against MK Yusef Jabarin and Mayor Samir Mahamid. Road 65 blocked due to the protest was opened to traffic in all directions.
During the protest, some of the protesters violated the order and threw stones at police forces deployed outside the city police station. The chairman of the Ra’am party, MK Mansour Abbas, was even attacked during the demonstration by protesters shouting at him “out”, and he was forced to leave the place with the help of a number of people who defended him until he arrived at a local restaurant.
MK Mansour Abbas attacked during demonstration in Umm al-Fahm (Photo: Twitter screenshot)Documentation | In a demonstration against violence in Umm al-Fahm, the chairman of Ra’am MK was attacked @mnsorabbas By protesters who shouted at him “out”, and was smuggled by some people who physically defended him to a local restaurant. pic.twitter.com/pk4RytqTfr
– Yasser Okbi (@OkbiYasser) March 5, 2021
The police said that “we take stone-throwing by lawbreakers and rioters seriously, which could harm human lives, both the police and the demonstrators themselves. Police forces are deployed in the area and will act as necessary to maintain public order in the area.”
Earlier, the monitoring committee called on the Arab public to arrive en masse, and many buses of Jewish demonstrators also joined the demonstration. Among the participants were also members of the Meretz party, including the party’s chairman MK Nitzan Horowitz, MK Yair Golan, Jida Rinawi Zoabi and Issawi Farage.
Jida Rinawi Zoabi said: “We are protesting the conduct of the police who are fleeing the crime families and attacking protesters. The police must fight crime and not demonstrations.”
Issawi Farage said: “We Arabs and Jews have come here to say enough about the rampant crime in Arab society and demand personal security. Arab society is bleeding from crime, and we will continue to fight until it is eradicated.”
Yair Golan, Jida Rinawi Zoabi and Issawi Frij (Photo: Meretz Spokeswoman)MK Yusef Jabarin, a resident of the city who was wounded by police gunfire during a demonstration last week: “Umm al-Fahm now provides a victorious answer to the violent police, who are weak in the face of criminals and brutal in the face of protesters. Many thousands in the streets, Arabs and Jews shouting for justice and eradicating violence despite police trying to block roads in front of protesters. “We demand a real plan to eradicate crime instead of Netanyahu’s pike plan that does not even talk about crushing criminal organizations, and lacks appropriate solutions in education, housing and welfare.”
The demonstration in Umm al-Fahm. Photo: Spokeswoman for the “Common List”
Sirin Muhammad Jabarin, a resident of Umm al-Fahm, said that “we ask the Israeli-Jewish society to stand by us and help us hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, to put pressure on the government and the police and make short-term plans to defeat and eliminate violence in Arab society.”
The chairman of the joint list, MK Ayman Odeh, said that “tens of thousands are here in Umm al-Fahm. An entire people who are fighting for personal security, to live in peace, and to defeat violence and crime. The police prevent people from reaching Umm al-Fahm because they are cowards. “In front of the protesters and in front of the criminal organizations. We will continue to fight to live with dignity and defeat violence and crime.”
Protesters shoot fireworks at a demonstration in Umm al-Fahm. Photo: Police Spokeswoman
Earlier, Odeh wrote on Twitter that “only degrading and racist police block access to Umm al-Fahm to prevent protesters from entering. I call on all democratic citizens in the country, Arabs and Jews, to reach Umm al-Fahm and anti-violence and crime demonstrations across the country. We will demand that she stop the crime and the criminals. “
Only vile and racist police block access to Umm al-Fahm to prevent protesters from reaching. I call on all the democratic citizens of the country, Arabs and Jews, to come to Umm al-Fahm and to demonstrations against violence and crime throughout the country. Police are not allowed to stop the demonstrations, and will be required to stop the crime and the criminals.
– Ayman Odeh (@AyOdeh) March 5, 2021