Dozens of left-wing activists demonstrated on Wednesday evening outside the home of Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion in protest of the eviction of an Arab family from a home that was illegally built in the Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood in the city.

Many police officers were stationed at the scene for fear of disturbances. At one point, one of the police officers was documented in an unusual physical confrontation with MK Mossi Raz (Meretz).

Raz told Channel 12 News, "We came to demonstrate outside Moshe Lion’s house and the police, it was rainy and cold as it is, pushed the demonstrators along the narrow sidewalk and tried to fend them off 300 meters from the house while violently pushing them."

"They threw an 80-year-old woman on the ground, maybe she was even older than 80, she is handicapped on two crutches. She could be the grandmother of the cops who threw her in the ground, and they pushed me too, which I guess is probably more interesting than even a family whose home was destroyed," he added.

"You can see in the video what he did to me, and they shouted at him that I am a Knesset member and it did not interest him at all," Raz continued. "He should not do it, not to me and not to anyone else, protesters should not be beaten or pushed so wildly. I regret the police violence, but I am not the story. The story is that of a family whose home, on the coldest night of the year, was demolished without any justification. They threw them into the street and until now they have not even been released from detention."

MK Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) responded to the violent incident and said, "Violence against Knesset members is not acceptable. Period. Whether they are on my side or whether they are against me. You are not beating Mossi Raz, you are beating the public that sent him and that is dangerous, very dangerous. I would turn to the Minister of Public Security, but that will not help, he does not understand his role."

The Israel Police stated, "Tonight there was a protest outside the mayor's private home in violation of a ruling of the Supreme Court and the rules regarding demonstrations near the home of elected officials. The policemen ordered the demonstrators to move to the demonstration complexes adjacent to the place, and when they failed to heed the order, an order to disperse was given after which the demonstrators were pushed in the direction of the demonstration complex and responded with opposition and later with the blocking of the road. An investigation we conducted shows that a Border Police officer who was at the scene did not initially recognize that [Raz] was a Knesset member and therefore pushed him and others back, after they failed to obey the instructions of the police officers at the scene. As soon as he realized that this was indeed a Knesset member, he backed off. We will continue to allow freedom of protest within the limits of the law and we expect everyone to protest lawfully and obey the instructions of the police."