[IsraelTimes] Activists paint yellow ribbons along route, stage sit-in as police attempt to wash them off; mother of hostage warns Netanyahu that she won’t allow him to abandon her son
A group of protesters led by relatives of the Gaza hostages blocked Namir Road in Tel Aviv during a Friday demonstration calling for the Israeli government to agree to a hostage release-ceasefire deal.
| No crowd estimate given, so there weren’t very many of them. |
Activists descended on Namir Road early on Friday morning in order to prepare for the protest, painting large yellow ribbons — the symbol of support for the hostages — at various intervals along the route.
Similar drawings were painted on other key routes across the country, including on Highway 2, where the word “abandoned” was emblazoned above the ribbon, and on Highway 4, where the words “because of you” were painted in the same font as the logo used by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
On Namir Road’s Hayarkon Bridge, where the main protest was taking place, the family members fighting for the release of their loved ones chained themselves together, tethering the chain to the bridge to ensure that no traffic could pass.
Among those leading the protest was Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan Zangauker was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.
Wrapped in chains and standing in front of a banner reading “Abandoned to their deaths,” Zangauker was joined by her daughter, Matan’s sister, Natalie, who two weeks ago was injured by mounted police during a Saturday night protest in Tel Aviv.
Bonfires were lit in the middle of the blocked road, and protesters set off colored smoke bombs in front of banners and posters accusing the government of neglecting the hostages, abducted more than 11 months ago during Hamas’s brutal October 7 invasion and massacre in southern Israel.
Footage of the demonstration showed that at one point, police officers were pushing a group of protesters increasingly close to a makeshift bonfire before other protesters stepped in, forcing them back moments before the large banner they were holding could be set alight.
Elsewhere along the protest route, dozens of demonstrators staged a sit-in, refusing to move even as police attempted to wash the painted yellow ribbons off of the road.
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