More than 20,000 African asylum seekers and Israelis demonstrated next to the New Central Bus Station in south Tel Aviv on Saturday night, in protest of the government?s plan to deport the asylum seekers, which is set to begin in March.
?We didn?t choose to come to south Tel Aviv, they didn?t hand out maps to Levinsky Street in the Sinai desert,? Togod Omer, an asylum seeker from Darfur, Sudan, said as he addressed the thousands of people from the stage. ?When we came, they gave us a one-way ticket to the new Central Bus Station.?
?We are all victims in this story, both the asylum seekers and the veteran Israelis,? Omer continued, in reference to those living in Tel Aviv?s southern neighborhoods. ?We?re all living here together and they are always trying to get us to hate one another.?
Thousands of people filled Levinsky street chanting ?the people demand a stop to the deportations!? with signs quoting Jewish texts about loving the stranger.
There are approximately 38,000 African asylum seekers in Israel, according to the Interior Ministry. About 72 percent are Eritrean and 20% are Sudanese. The vast majority arrived between 2006 and 2012. A law approved by the Knesset in December stipulates that the Interior Ministry will deport asylum seekers to Rwanda and Uganda starting in March.
?I?m happy that so many people came, and there are so many people who are helping us,? said Saleh, 24, an Eritrean asylum seeker who came from Haifa with a group of friends. ?I?m a person just like everyone here is a person, and we all come from the same God.?
Many demonstrators said they were glad the protest was held in south Tel Aviv, even though the large turnout made it difficult to maneuver, as the intersection and surrounding streets were packed full of people.
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