Tens of thousands of African migrants held their biggest rally to date in Tel Aviv on Sunday to protest Israel's refusal to grant them refugee status and new law that allows them to be detained without trial.
"We are all refugees," and "Yes to freedom, no to prison!" the marchers chanted.
Joining the 30,000-strong march were Israeli rights activists.
“We came from all over the country, from Ashdod, Haifa, Netanya, all over," the Jerusalem Post quotes Darfur native Anwar Suliman as saying. "We wanted to be together because our situation has gotten so bad and we need the country to examine our asylum requests and not keep placing us in the detention centers.”
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
If you think a better world is possible, support our people-powered media model today
The corporate media puts the interests of the 1% ahead of all of us. That's wrong. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
If you believe the survival of independent media is vital to a healthy democracy, please step forward with a donation to nonprofit Common Dreams today:
Another demonstrator, an Eritrean cited with only his first name, Dawud, told Agence France-Presse, "We have fled persecution, dictatorships, civil wars and genocides."
"Instead of considering us refugees, Israel treats us like criminals," Dawud said.
The rally was held on the first of a three-day national action declared by the community.
Protests over Israel's treatment of migrants including their indefinite incarceration have been ongoing.
________________
