Some estimated 200,000 people flooded the streets of Tel Aviv, the country`s business hub, chanting "the people demand social justice," and holding signs calling for cabinet members to resign.
This is the largest rally since hundreds of young Israelis set up a tent city at the northern end of Tel Aviv`s Rothschild Boulevard last month to show their anger over unaffordable housing.
The tent protests have quickly spread to other cities, and evolved into a popular outcry against the spiraling cost of living. The protests have encompassed a host of grievances over soaring housing costs, prices of basic foodstuffs, child-care costs and gasoline taxes. Over 100,000 people participated in the demonstration Saturday.
Also, the country`s doctors, specialists, and medical residents have been leading an on-and-off campaign of their own for the past six months, calling for higher wages and better working conditions.
The protest, which was launched on Facebook nearly three weeks ago, is being led primarily by middle-class Israelis, disgruntled with what they perceive as a gradual erosion of their economic standing.(*)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
