Tens of thousands of Israelis of Ethiopian descent blocked road junctions across Israel on Tuesday, 2 July 2019, to protest the killing of 18-year-old Solomon Tekah by an off-duty police officer near Haifa two days earlier, The Irish Times reported. Much of the country came to a standstill as drivers sat in traffic for hours.
Tekah had arrived in Israel from Ethiopia with his family eight years earlier. The officer, who was placed under house arrest, said he opened fire because he feared for his life when a group of young people threw stones at him after he tried to break up a fight. Tekah’s relatives accused him of cold-blooded murder. Tekah was the 11th Ethiopian-Israeli killed by police in a decade, according to the newspaper.
Police at first kept a low profile and let the protests go ahead. When some young people began burning vehicles and throwing stones and petrol bombs, riot police moved in with stun grenades and tear gas. More than 80 people were hurt and 136 protesters were detained. Demonstrators chanted “A violent policeman belongs inside prison” and “Ethiopian lives matter.” On Wednesday night police deployed across the country and kept the roads open.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the killing a tragedy but said violence could not be tolerated, and he asked community members to “exert their influence” to stop it. President Reuven Rivlin urged restraint: “None of us have blood that is thicker than anyone else’s, and the lives of our brothers and sisters will never be forfeit.”
Tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews were brought to Israel in the 1980s and 1990s, many in airlifts organized by the Israeli government. Many in the community, especially the young, say they face discrimination from state institutions and racism from the police.
Sources: The Irish Times