The commander of the Ayalon precinct of the Israel Police, Chaim Bublil, accused the protesters of using severe violence against police officers during the demonstration yesterday (Monday) in Tel Aviv.
"They raised the bar of violence against the police by three degrees," Bublil told Channel 12 News. "We haven't seen things like this for a very long time. They lit bonfires dangerously, set off fireworks, and attacked mounted officers."
Bublil continued: "If they want to bring change through violence, I can use force too." According to him, he could have used harsher measures to evict the protesters from Ayalon, including using gas and stun grenades.
"We are in an unbearable reality," he added. "The protesters are looking for the photos and the friction with the police. There is no reason to confront policemen who are standing behind fences, there is no reason to create anarchy."
The Israel Police has accused several media outlets of deliberately ignoring and not covering the violence of the left-wing protesters yesterday "as part of a biased coverage against the police", according to a statement.
The police stated that policemen who were stationed at protests last night experienced physical violence from protesters who refused to obey orders to disperse and assaulted police with sticks.
In addition, protesters threw smoke grenades, sprayed paint on the windshield of a riot control pumper truck, placed various objects on the road to block it, and some even threw objects at the policemen who were on the scene from a bridge. One of the bottles thrown hit a policeman in the head.
The police stated that yesterday violent disturbances occurred after protesters attacked and injured 14 police officers. Some of the officers were evacuated for medical treatment in a hospital. "What happened on Begin Road was the furthest thing from a legal protest," said an officer.
A police officer who worked at the scene said: "For many hours, we worked to allow the thousands of demonstrators to protest in the Knesset area even when they bordered on disorderly conduct. What happened on Begin Road was the furthest thing from a legal protest - it was disorderly conduct and a violent riot for the sake of it."
According to him, "In addition to the fact that hundreds of violators significantly damaged the fabric of life of Jerusalem residents and road users in the area, they refused to leave the area, physically confronted us, attacked us, and even threw objects at us from a height. All our warnings went unheeded and our police officers were injured."
In conclusion, he said that "the use of crowd control measures was necessary, and it is a shame that there are those who present last night's disturbances on the road in a completely distorted way, as if it was a coordinated, short and quiet demonstration without violence, which did not harm anyone. This is one of the most violent disturbances in Jerusalem in recent memory."