Protesters on Tuesday took to the streets in cities nationwide alongside relatives of homicide victims, demanding police act against the surging violence in Arab communities, where another deadly shooting occurred amid the demonstrations.

The protests, part of a “day of disruption” over the issue, drew hundreds to demonstrations in cities including Jaffa, Lod and Haifa, where police arrested four protesters during a march down a road.

Activists with Standing Together, a Jewish-Arab movement spearheading the day’s demonstrations, kicked off the day-long protest action by blocking major roads in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Police arrested two in the capital while dispersing protesters from the road.

Some activists also poured red dye, meant to symbolize the bloodshed, into water fountains in Haifa and Tel Aviv. The stunt led to four arrests in Haifa and one in Tel Aviv.

All seven were released from the police station by noon.

From there, protesters continued to take to the streets. Medical staff at five hospitals across the country also briefly stopped working at noon in protest of the deteriorating situation in Arab locales, heading outside to protest.

“My friends who have clinics in Arab society are threatened all the time. These are our people. There have been doctors who have been murdered, and there is an entire world of families suffering from post-trauma,” said Irit Meretyk, the head of the doctors’ association........

© The Times of Israel