Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the immediate deportation of participants in Saturday’s riots in Tel Aviv.
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“Yesterday’s events are the crossing of a red line. This is rioting and bloodshed, this is something we cannot accept. We demand tough measures against the rioters, including their immediate deportation,” Netanyahu said at a ministerial meeting discussing measures to combat illegal migrants.
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The prime minister called illegal migration from Africa a real problem for the future of Israel.
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“We dealt with this threat by building a security fence … But the problem of those who had already entered before the completion of the construction of the fence remains. These are several tens of thousands of illegal migrants who entered the country. Twelve thousand of them we persuaded to leave the country voluntarily, through various preferential programs and other measures. We wanted more, we proposed a number of measures … unfortunately, all of them were rejected by the Supreme Court,” Netanyahu said.
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The day before, hundreds of refugees from Eritrea, protesting against the government of their country, clashed with supporters of the Eritrean authorities near the site of an event in Tel Aviv, organized by the Eritrean embassy in Israel.
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Police arrived at the scene to normalize the situation. According to media reports, during the riots, about 150 people were injured, including gunshot wounds, about 50 policemen were injured, and 40 demonstrators were arrested.
