Hundreds rally at police station near Tel Aviv to secure release of arrested protester
Hundreds of anti-government protesters besieged a police station near Tel Aviv on Friday night demanding the release of a fellow demonstrator detained earlier in the day.
Police said some 30 protesters initially showed up inside the Glilot police station seeking the release of Dan Orenstein, who had been arrested Friday afternoon at a demonstration outside the Herzliya Pituach home of Russian businessman Yitzchak Mirilashvili, the controlling shareholder of Channel 14, a rising right-wing media outlet widely seen as a mouthpiece for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mirilashvili is the son of Georgian-born Israeli billionaire Mikhael Mirilashvili, who controls a vast business empire that has included casinos, hotels, oil, real estate, and VK.com, Russia’s largest social network which he co-founded.
According to police, Orenstein — CEO of major car importer Champion Motors — had scuffled with an unidentified person, a man in his 20s, who arrived at the protest and damaged a sign he was carrying in opposition to the demonstrators’ message. This led to a tussle and both were arrested, police said.
The man in his 20s was released shortly after being taken into custody while Orenstein was detained for hours as supporters began gathering outside the Glilot station.
The police removed the initial group, and arrested one demonstrator, but the station was soon surrounded by hundreds more protesters waving flags, blowing horns and vuvuzelas and chanting “shame,” a rallying cry among demonstrators protesting the government’s planned judicial overhaul.
Video footage from the scene shows four police officers grabbing a demonstrator who was holding onto a staircase railing outside the station and quickly hauling him inside.
מעל ל-500 מוחים מחוץ לתחנת גלילות על מעצרו של המפגין שהותקף ע”י אדם אחר. חלק מהמוחים נכנסו לתחנה וסירבו לעזוב – אחד מהם נעצר | תיעוד@ittaishick pic.twitter.com/hW7PurNoNH
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 14, 2023
Police released Orenstein at around 10:30 at night, followed by the release of the demonstrator outside the station, to wild cheers and applause. Protesters then quickly dispersed.
According to reports in the Hebrew media, former IDF chief Dan Halutz and Tal Russo, a general who served as chief of the military’s Southern Command (and a former Labor Party MK) were among the protesters who negotiated with police for Orenstein’s release.
The protest at Mirilashvili’s home was part of a series of demonstrations Friday outside the homes of leading members of the ruling Likud party, including the private residences of MK Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Knesset’s Defense and Foreign Affairs committee, in Herzliya, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana in Tel Aviv, Science and Innovation Minister Ofir Akunis, also in Tel Aviv, and MK Danny Danon in Ra’anana.