Advertisement

Clashes, arrests at Tel Aviv protest over reforms

STORY: Police on horseback confronted the demonstrators, some of whom lit up a torch, and sprayed water cannons to hold them back. Four people were detained, police said.

The clashes took place after more than 200,000 protesters, according to Israeli media, took to the streets of many Israeli cities for the ninth straight week to fight the government's plan to overhaul the country's court system.

Israeli media estimated that around 160,000 protesters attended the peaceful rally in Tel Aviv.

Jerusalem resident Natasha Dudinsky told Reuters she was against the reforms by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, saying, "basic democratic laws and the separation of powers is very important, and they want to cut the judicial independence and I think it is very dangerous."

In Jerusalem, protesters rallied outside the president's residence, with a group of women dressed as characters from 'The Handmaid's Tale' novel-turned-television series about totalitarianism.