By BEN HARTMAN
Several hundred gather at Tel Aviv Museum plaza where opinions are voiced in “Hyde Park” speakers corner; protest held on Rothschild.
Tel Aviv on Saturday joined hundreds of cities across the globe holding “October 15” demonstrations, focused on a message of greater economic equality and opportunity, and increased citizen participation in public life.
The Israeli version was a small and rather laid-back event, light years from the tear gas and fire of Rome.
The global demonstrations are largely inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protest that began on September 17, and its message that “we are the 99 percent” (that is not rich) that has steadily gained greater media attention in recent weeks.
The gathering at the Tel Aviv Museum hearkened back to an earlier protest closer to home, and seemed an extension of the open discussions, art exhibits and jam sessions that gave life to the Rothschild tent city, albeit set up in an open, breezy plaza during the Succot holiday weekend.
Though it got off to a slow start, by Saturday evening several hundred people were milling around the plaza, checking out the information booths and art exhibits, including a collection of photos taken of in the tent cities of Tel Aviv and Holon since July 14, when the “J14 movement” for lower housing prices started.
Categories: Israel, Middle East