Israeli demonstrators carry placards during a march calling for social
justice in Tel Aviv, June 2, 2012. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)

June 24, 2012

TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israeli police arrested 85 Israelis in Tel Aviv on Saturday night as a rally against police violence descended into clashes, Israeli media reported.

Around 2,000 protesters gathered in the city center to protest excessive use of a force at a social justice rally in Tel Aviv a day earlier, when 12 activists were detained, Israeli daily Ynet reported.

Israeli police said demonstrators proceeded to smash up bank windows, block traffic, and hurl eggs at a municipal building. The local police commander said the rally was carried out for the "sole purpose of provoking the officers ... Every possible red line was crossed here."

One of the leaders of the widespread social justice protests that rocked Israel last summer, Stav Shaffir, told Ynet: "It's embarrassing to see the State of Israel using violent means and beating up protesters."

"While we're struggling for what we've been fighting for throughout the year, we realized there's another struggle, a great one, for democracy," she said.

The 2011 protest movement kicked off in late July as activists set up protest tents in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to challenge unaffordable housing.

Protests attracted a growing range of causes, with analysts saying the rallies tapped into widespread frustrations over a growing gap between rich and poor in the country.

For the main part, protesters steered clear of commenting on Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands and the building of Jewish-only homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The protests led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a panel chaired by economist Manuel Trajtenberg which recommended raising welfare spending and lowering defense expenditure. Activists say the reforms have not gone far enough.

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