The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they unfold.
Police say they have detained or arrested 26 people for public disturbances in Tel Aviv.
In addition, they say that around 30 demonstrators are blocking the Ayalon Highway close to the Yehudit Bridge.
A number of people were detained earlier in the day during protests at the Kfar Hayarok interchange and near Ra’anana.
Police use water cannons against anti-overhaul protesters in the northern city of Haifa.
It is unclear why they were deployed. There are no immediate reports of injuries.
A news crew from the Kan public broadcaster was on air as the water cannons were used.
The controversial crowd-control measure has been used on a number of occasions against protesters against the government’s legislative package that will — among other things — allow the Knesset to override court decisions with the barest majority, preemptively shield laws from judicial oversight, and put the selection of judges in the hands of coalition politicians.
בשידור חי: המכת"זית מפנה מפגינים שחוסמים צומת, המשטרה מבצעת מעצרים. @CBeyar עם הדיווח pic.twitter.com/swpwaBeR8y
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) March 23, 2023
An Israeli truck driver came under fire near the West Bank town of Shufa, medics say.
According to the Rescuers Without Borders emergency service, the man is unharmed.
He reached the nearby settlement of Avnei Hefetz, where forces identified several bullet holes in his truck, the service adds.
There is no immediate comment from the military on the incident.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid refuses to issue a joint statement with Transportation Minister Miri Regev calling for Israel’s Independence Day to be free of protests.
“We will not pretend that we are celebrating together and that everything is fine while the government is tearing apart the people of Israel and erasing democracy, and we will not sit back and watch another embarrassing show of flattery for the Netanyahu family,” Lapid says in a statement.
Opposition MK Chili Tropper called yesterday for coalition lawmakers to agree that Israel’s Memorial Day, the day before Independence Day, should be free of protests.
According to the Walla news site, MK Benny Gantz’s National Unity party signed onto the agreement and Economy Minister Nir Barkat was recruiting signatories from the Likud party.
However, Regev, who is in charge of the country’s central Independence Day ceremony, refused unless the agreement was extended to that day also.
Memorial Day, set to begin the evening of April 24, sees large swaths of the Israeli public visiting the graves of loved ones who have been killed. Many of the ceremonies around the country feature speeches by ministers.
There are minor scuffles between police and demonstrators in Tel Aviv. It is unclear how the confrontations began on Yigal Alon Street.
Police say they prevented dozens of protesters from blocking the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv at the Arlozorov interchange.
Dozens of large gatherings around the country are expected to draw as many as half a million people to the streets in major cities, on highways and outside coalition members’ homes for a “day of paralysis” to protest the judicial overhaul.
Dozens of members of bereaved military families demonstrate outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.
Gavriella Zimmerman, whose son Amir was killed in 2004, says that she felt she had no choice other than to protest.
“As a bereaved mother it’s hard to wave the flag, but I feel like I am on the edge of the abyss — one small push and we will fall in and won’t come back again,” she tells the Walla news site.
“This is not what Amir died for, a ruined country,” she says.
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