After clashes broke out this week between the police and protesters during the National Day of Disruption on Wednesday, the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, today (Friday) addressed Police Commissioner Shabtai and demanded to summon the commander of the Tel Aviv district and clarify to him the minister's policy according to which roadblocks are not allowed.
Already at the beginning of his letter, the minister repeated the comparison of the protestors to anarchists when he thanked the commissioner "for his personal handling of the attempts at anarchy this week." He added, "I have no doubt that if you had not been in the PAK and taken command of what happened on the Ayalon road, we would have witnessed a serious disruption of order the public".
Confrontation at a demonstration in Tel Aviv during the National Disruption Day, photo: AP
He also wrote that "your management of the events resulted in a short time in full control of the riots and the maintenance of public order, and even prevented further damage to the lives of police officers in the field and to public property."
He concluded his letter by asking to "strengthen the police officers, male and female officers, who acted this week all over the country in order to prevent anarchy and allow the normal fabric of life, and from here I send wishes for a full recovery to all the police officers who were injured in the violent protests."
Regarding the expected demonstrations in the coming weeks as well, he wrote, "In light of the violent protests of the past week that are expected to continue in the coming weeks, I will ask my lord to summon the commander of the Tel Aviv district, and clarify to him my policy regarding the blocking of roads. My policy is that the blocking of major transportation roads (for example: highway Ayalon, the coastal road, the Jerusalem Tel Aviv road, etc.) and the disruption of the fabric of life due to demonstrations and protests should not be allowed.
"I would also like to clarify to him and to the district commanders, that my policy is that whenever policemen attack or try to block central roads, public order must be maintained and maintained. Of course, each commander in the field has a discretion as to how to implement the policy, but it must be remembered that the minister is the one who determines the policy, and not The commander in the field. I would also like to clarify that in accordance with the above policies, it is certainly not possible to agree in advance to a situation of blocking central roads, without a permit and contrary to the conditions of the demonstration license."
Ben Gvir wrote the letter to the commissioner this week following claims that if the Tel Aviv district commander, Ntsav Ami Ashad, had been found on Wednesday, the police would have acted differently.
As I recall, Ashad allowed protesters to block Ayalon about a week ago, much to the dismay of the minister.
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