Israeli police clashed Wednesday with protesters rallying against the government’s judicial reform programme which critics say threatens democracy, as lawmakers held a preliminary vote on the latest controversial bill.
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv blocked some streets, and police employed stun grenades, water cannon and officers on horseback in a rare use of force in the coastal city, AFP journalists said.
Some 39 people were arrested for “allegedly rioting and not obeying instructions by police officials”, police said in a statement.
Eleven wounded protesters arrived at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov hospital, a spokesman for the facility told AFP.
“The right to demonstrate is not the right to block the country,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement, accusing demonstrators of crossing “a red line”.
“A sovereign country cannot tolerate anarchy,” added Netanyahu, who returned…
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