Police Crackdown on Peaceful Anti-War Protests
- ACRI
- Jun 19
- 2 min read
Since the outbreak of the conflict with Iran on June 13, 2025, there has been increasing documentation on social media and in the press of the police violently dispersing peaceful protests and arresting demonstrators. This occurred during a peaceful protest with 40 at Habima Square in Tel Aviv that called for an end to the war; during a peaceful 10-person protest vigil in Haifa calling for an end to the war; during a quiet demonstration held by four people at Begin Gate in Tel Aviv calling for the release of the hostages; and at a one-person protest in front of the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem.
On June 18, 2025, we approached the police and the Attorney General with a request that they instruct law enforcement to immediately stop suppressing protest events and cease illegal interference in the content of protests. In the appeal, Elza Bugnet from ACRI's legal department wrote that the aggressive dispersal and sweeping suppression of legal protests, is not proportionate, harms freedom of protest and expression in Israel, and creates a chilling effect that deters additional protesters from engaging in protest activities. Bugnet emphasized that the Home Front Command guidelines and restrictions on assemblies are not meant to revoke the right to protest and freedom of expression, especially when these gatherings include a limited number of protesters and are conducted near a protected area (such as a public shelter). The appeal references rulings and guidelines that consistently establish that the police do not have the authority to interfere in the content of demonstrations and to censor protest signs and shirts that they do not like, and they are not authorized to disperse a demonstration because they do not agree with the topic of the protest.
"The overall conduct of the police in recent days raises serious concerns about the exploitation of the state of emergency and mass panic in order to prevent protesters, particularly those protesting with calls to end the war and massacre in Gaza, from exercising their basic right to demonstrate, and to establish a status quo of far-reaching restrictions on freedom of protest and expression in Israel during emergency and non-emergency periods."
ACRI's appeal, June 18, 2025 (Heb)
We have not forgotten: 🛑 Stop the killing and starvation in Gaza 🛑 Stop the abandonment of the hostages 🛑 End the war. Now.
