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Tens of thousands of asylum seekers march in Tel Aviv demanding rights

Sunday, 5. January 2014 - 19:22

Demonstration marks beginning of three-day strike; African migrants call on state to recognize asylum requests.

Tens of thousands of African asylum seekers marched from Lewinsky Park to Kikar Rabin in Tel Aviv on Sunday, where they held a demonstration demanding Israel recognize their asylum requests, and cease jailing them at detention facilities in the South.
Its was the biggest protest and show of force ever by asylum seekers in Israel and was the first activity marking the beginning of a three-day strike as announced by activists on Sunday.

The demonstration followed two weeks of marches through central Tel Aviv protesting the state's anti-infiltration amendment and the newly open Holot detention facility in the South.

African asylum seekers march in Tel Aviv to protest arrests made during "freedom marches" earlier in the week.
(photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Following the march, asylum-seekers were slated to hold separate protests on Monday at a number of foreign embassies around the city, the African Refugees Development Center said. On Tuesday, they plan a demonstration along the beachfront on Hayarkon Street.

The protests are the latest step in a renewed campaign in the face of new legislation and policies – including the opening of a new detention facility for migrants in the South – which migrants say have made their lives and future in Israel much more precarious.

For the past two Saturday nights, thousands of African asylum-seekers have held protest marches in central Tel Aviv. Unlike the protests in previous years, the crowds were predominantly led by and made up of Africans, who numbered in the thousands.

Ben Hartman

Source: 
www.jpost.com
Tags: 
African migrants
asylum seekers in Israel
demonstration
rights