Israelis step up protests over government's legal overhaul
Weeks of anti-government protests in Israel turned violent on Wednesday for the first time as police fired stun grenades and a water cannon at demonstrators who blocked a Tel Aviv highway. The crackdown came shortly after Israel's hard-line security minister urged a tough response to what he said were "anarchists."
The crisis has sent shock waves through Israel and presented Netanyahu with a serious challenge, just two months after returning to power. A wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence in the occupied West Bank has compounded his troubles. Police said protesters threw rocks and water bottles at police. Several protesters were arrested for disturbing the peace and Israeli media said at least six protesters were wounded. Earlier Wednesday, protesters blocked Tel Aviv's main freeway and the highway connecting the city to Jerusalem, halting rush hour traffic for about an hour. At busy train stations in Tel Aviv, protesters prevented trains from departing by blocking their doors.
"Every person here is trying to keep Israel a democracy and if the current government will get its way, then we are afraid we will no longer be a democracy or a free country," said Arianna Shapira, a protester in Tel Aviv. "As a woman, as a mother, I'm very scared for my family and for my friends."
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