Due to the unbearable congestion and overcrowding, a number of young Eritreans have recently decided to convert a playground into a makeshift bedroom. It takes some time to get used to the surge of creativity witnessed in Levinsky Park, which is located a few steps away from the old central station in south Tel Aviv. On one of the slides, two mattresses have been laid, side by side. Next to another play facility, a trim little tent has been set up, inside of which some other youths find shelter when night falls. On the surrounding well-tended lawn area, hundreds of illegal migrants from Africa gather every night to prepare themselves for another night's sleep under the open sky.
The longtime residents of south Tel Aviv cannot call to mind ever being faced with a crazy reality such as this, where entire neighborhoods have been “conquered,” as they put it, by thousands of illegal asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and job-seekers from Africa.
