The Israeli police clashed with anti-government protesters outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, which was the third day of demonstrations calling for early elections and his ouster.
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Jerusalem since Sunday, when a planned four-day anti-government protest began outside Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset. Many protesters have camped out in tents outside the Knesset, where the demonstrations have swelled each evening.
The protest and an authorized march started peacefully on Tuesday night but then turned into an unbridled “riot,” according to the Israeli police force. It said in a statement that hundreds of rioters had tried to break through barriers near Mr. Netanyahu’s house but were blocked by the police.
The police said that dozens of people continued to riot in the street afterward, forcing officers to deploy riot control measures. Five people were arrested and one officer was injured in the melee, the police force added.
Photographs of the scene showed that the police used water cannons to disperse protesters, many of whom carried Israeli flags.
Many of the protesters accuse Mr. Netanyahu of prioritizing his political survival over the broader interests of the Israeli people and hold him responsible for his government’s failure to prevent the Oct. 7 attack led by Hamas. He also has been accused of not doing enough to bring home the hostages held by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.
Posters bearing the names and faces of the hostages have been ever-present at the protests, along with signs and banners reading “Bring Them Home.”
Many Israelis have refrained from protesting the government during the war. While this week’s protests have been some of the most significant demonstrations against Mr. Netanyahu’s government since the war began, the crowds have appeared smaller than those at the demonstrations last year at the peak of a wave of anti-government protests, which the prime minister’s coalition survived.
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