MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th September, 2020) As thousands of people protested against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, the Israeli police called on demonstrators to follow social distancing guidelines.
On Saturday, thousands of people assembled at Netanyahu's official residence, calling for the prime minister's resignation. According to The Haaretz newspaper, several convoys of more than a thousand vehicles headed from all across Israel to Jerusalem. Hundreds of cars were spotted in the coastal city of Casarea, where Netanyahu's private residence is located.
The Israeli police said in a statement that all measures to ensure security and the safety of people during the demonstrations were taken. Police called on people to maintain a distance of two meters from one another and to wear face masks.
On Friday, fresh coronavirus restrictions came into force in Israel, building up on the new lockdown that took effect earlier this month for a period of three weeks with a possibility of extension.
Israel's top COVID-19 policy advisor and the director general of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Ronni Gamzu, has accused Netanyahu of tightening COVID-19 restrictions in an attempt to contain anti-government demonstrations.
Protests calling on Netanyahu to step down amid an economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic have been ongoing since July.
Israel has more than 226,500 confirmed coronavirus cases, with nearly 8,700 cases registered in the past 24 hours. Five new coronavirus-related deaths were confirmed in Israel in that period, with the country's total death toll standing at 1,417.
