Israeli police block right-wing activists from Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate
Jerusalem police halted some 20 right-wing activists who tried approaching the flashpoint Damascus Gate despite interdiction by law-enforcement agencies.
Far-right Knesset member Itamar Ben Gvir of the Jewish Power faction abandoned the flag march which took place this afternoon outside the Jerusalem Old City walls.
Israeli police had told the organizers of the march yesterday that they would not allow participants to reach the flashpoint Damascus Gate. At the beginning, the organizers offered an alternative route, but then backtracked and said they would march to the Damascus Gate even without police permission.
The organizers tried copying the nationalist flag march that traditionally takes place on Jerusalem Day (which marks the city’s unification in 1967), to be celebrated on May 29 this year.
Out of the 200 people who marched this afternoon from the Safra Jerusalem Municipality Square, about 20 activists managed to approach the volatile spot, including Ben Gvir. On arrival, police blocked them from entering the gate, and chased some of them who refused to obey orders to walk away. After a heated exchange with the police, Ben Gvir decided to abandon the march.
