BICOM

Up to 1,000 Ethiopian-Israeli demonstrators took to the Tel Aviv streets again yesterday to protest against police brutality and institutional racism against the community.

Two weeks ago, a larger protest turned violent, with police in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square deploying water cannons and stun grenades in scenes rarely scene on the streets of Israeli cities. The protests, which have also taken place in Jerusalem and Haifa were sparked by footage showing an Ethiopian soldier, Damas Pakada, being assaulted by policemen in an apparent unprovoked attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently met with Pakada to apologise and the policeman in questions has since been sacked. President Reuven Rivlin commented at the time, “We must look directly at this open wound. We have erred. We didn’t look, and we didn’t listen enough.”

There are around 131,000 Israelis of Ethiopian descent. The historic Jewish community, which lived a largely agrarian existence in Ethiopia, was mostly brought to Israel on secret flights in the mid-1980s and early 1990s and has since faced enormous integration challenges. Although the government has invested huge resources in their absorption, many Ethiopian-Israelis, especially younger generations believe that discrimination from official bodies, in the workplace and among societal attitudes are holding them back.

Yesterday evening’s demonstration began at Rothschild Boulevard and progressed towards the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Protestors said that they wanted to show that the issues and problems have not dissipated. A group of protestors attempted to break off towards the Ayalon Highway, but were stopped by police who briefly closed Shaul Hamelech St.

Yesterday, Israel’s Police Commissioner Yochanan Danino said that a “fruitful” dialogue is being held with the Ethiopian-Israeli community with the aim “to draw them closer and improve the trust between police and the community.” He explained that police are listening to their grievances, adding “some of them are justified.”