Demonstrations outside the home of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit
Demonstrations outside the home of Attorney General Avichai MandelblitTomer Neuberg/Flash 90

Hundreds of people arrived once again on Saturday night to demonstrate outside the home of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit in Petah Tikva. The demonstrators demand that Mandelblit indict Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife for issues currently under police investigation.

Police said the number of protesters who took part in the protest exceeded the number permitted by the Supreme Court, which ruled recently that the protests must be moved to a nearby park as they disturb the neighbors.

According to the police, some 1,500 demonstrators took part in the protests at a number of places, including the nearby commercial center, the adjacent square and other squares in the area, even though they were only permitted to demonstrate in the area of the commercial center.

In addition, the police claimed that contrary to the ruling of the Court, the demonstration began before 8:00 p.m., more than two megaphones were used, and the organizers, while fulfilling the demand that ushers must be present at the demonstration, they fulfilled that demand in such a way that was not suitable for the size and scope of the protest. The police claim that only five ushers were placed at the scene by the organizers. They further said that all the attempts to negotiate with the heads of the protest were unsuccessful.

The Supreme Court intervened in the matter after the residents of Mandelblit's neighborhood complained that the protests start before Shabbat ends and disturb the residents.

Meanwhile, Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan spoke on Saturday night about the arrest last week of Eldad Yaniv and Manny Naftali, the former superintendent of the Prime Minister's Residence, who organize the weekly protests. Both were arrested last week as they were making their way to one of the demonstrations.

“Eldad Yaniv and Manny Naftali behave like anarchists who make up their own laws. They called on the public to act against the directives of the police, which are responsible for public order. They are the ones who act against the rule of law and delegitimize the Attorney General because of political interests,” Erdan told Channel 2 News.

“The only reason it was not a good idea to arrest Eldad is that he wanted to be arrested for the sake of his coming Likud primaries - that's why he refused to sign the police conditions and made himself a celebrity,” he added.

“The only reason it was not right to arrest Eldad is that he wanted to be arrested for the sake of his primaries and therefore refused to sign the police conditions,” he added.