Actors and filmmakers protested at Rabin Square for their livelihoods due to the Corona crisis • Aviv Geffen: "Calls on Prime Minister to meet with me tomorrow"

• Artists protest following the Corona crisis: "The state will wake up" // Photo: Gideon Markovich

Artists protest arrives at the square:  Dozens of artists and cultural figures arrived on Thursday evening to hold a protest rally, as part of an initiative by the headquarters of the struggle to save the world of culture and events entitled "Do not turn off the light on culture". The artists waved signs with the caption "The respirator now" and "The actor is a profession". 

Industry officials have come to call out their outcry and hurt their livelihood following the Corona crisis and call on the government to give financial back to artists. The participants signed a huge wall that featured a huge release a day earlier, which was signed by over 200 senior artists in Israel such as Shlomo Artzi, Chava Alberstein, Shalom Hanoch, Aviv Geffen, Rita, Ivri Lider, Harel Skaat, Moshe Peretz and more. Also featured at the event was a unique lighting show consisting of hundreds of powerful lanterns that make up the number 150, to mark the 150,000 unemployed industrialists.   

The protest began as early as this morning, when artists and industry people exchanged their profile picture with a frame called "The Cultural Protest" and held a sign that said "I will not survive," alongside their name and profession.  

Speaking at the event, singer and composer Aviv Gefen said: "It will take another nine months for people to earn zero. That the country will wake up. I came here to ask Prime Minister Netanyahu to meet with me tomorrow morning for all the artists." 

June Feingold, the chairman of the Producers' Association and the leader of the campaign to save the culture, said: "Tomorrow a digital economy is starting. People have nothing to eat. "   

Despite the ban on gathering, due to fear of getting infected in Corona, some places were crowded and people were asked to stay away several times. Police said: "The protest ended on Rabin Square in Tel Aviv tonight. Contrary to incorrect publications, which do not match reality, including the number of participants, we note that most of the participants adhered to the rules and guidelines and that the organizers followed the agreement."