Anti-government anarchists took their civil disobedience to a new level on Tuesday in their latest effort to paralyze life for the average Israeli over having lost the ability to exert control over the Knesset in last year’s election.
This time the anarchists shut down the nation’s railway system, flooding local train stations with thousands of demonstrators.
Police have been extraordinarily patient, with just 37 of the thousands of drumming, horn-blowing, screaming “protesters” having been arrested by 7 pm.
A 40-year-old woman participating in the demonstrations on Route 531 in the Ra’anana area was accidentally struck by a vehicle, police said. She was taken to a nearby hospital in serious but stable condition.
The anarchists deliberated blocked the doors of the train cars from closing at the Hashalom station in Tel Aviv, effectively preventing the trains from moving.
In response, police temporarily shut down train stations in Tel Aviv, Herzliya and Hadera. Officers warned demonstrators not to gather on the platforms, because it presents a life-threatening danger — but anarchists ignored the warning, forcing police to temporarily close the stations altogether. Trains operating on the route skipped those stations.
The Israel Railways cyber control apparatus “malfunctioned”, shutting down train traffic throughout the country for at least an hour.
In another incident, five different people in five trains simultaneously pulled the emergency brakes, halting the trains from moving, according to Israel’s KAN News 11 public broadcaster.
The anarchists are not peaceful in their efforts to disrupt life in the country, and in some cases have become entirely violent.
In one case, a journalist from Israel’s Channel 14 News was attacked during his broadcast from one of the “protest” sites. The Association of Israeli Journalists condemned the attack. “It is not possible on the one hand to demonstrate in favor of democracy and freedom of speech and at the same time continuously interrupt the broadcast and attack reporters,” the organization said in a pointed statement.
Meanwhile, some 1,500 anarchists also gathered to demonstrate in front of the US Embassy branch in Tel Aviv.
Organizers of the anarchy announced early Tuesday evening that they are launching a march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Route 1, the main highway connecting Tel Aviv to the capital.
