Mass protests erupted in Israel Sunday night as thousands of people took to the streets in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem amid a worsening political crisis in the country.
Israelis took to the streets after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister over his opposition to a planned judicial overhaul.
Waving Israeli flags and chanting “democratia,” protesters could be seen blocking streets and bridges, including the main Ayalon Highway.
Protesters lit several fires on the main highway in Tel Aviv, their acrid, black smoke billowing into the sky, partly obscuring some of the city’s iconic skyscrapers. Demonstrators also gathered beside the highway, burning scrap metal and wood with almost no police around.
Protests had thinned out by around 2 a.m. local time on Monday in Tel Aviv. CNN’s crew on the ground saw about half a dozen police cars speeding toward where the protesters were and live pictures from the scene showed security forces firing water cannons on protestors still gathered.
A police spokesperson in the city told CNN police were preparing for the dispersal of the protesters from southbound Ayalon near the Hashalom interchange and called on protesters to leave the area and evacuate the road.
