More than 100,000 people gathered in Tel
Aviv's Rabin Square Thursday evening in a national protest, calling
on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz to
resign over the failures in the Second Lebanon
War.
More than 100,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square
Thursday evening in a national protest, calling on Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz to resign over the
failures in the Second Lebanon War.
A Xinhua correspondent saw a banner reading "Failures, Go Home!"
was hung behind a podium that was set up at one end of the square
in front of Tel Aviv city hall.
As the rally kicked off at 7:00 p.m.(1600 GMT), Rabin square
filled up despite a rain. Hundreds of policemen were deployed for
the event and roads were closed leading to the venue.
The organizers of the mass demonstration claimed that more
than150,000 people were in attendance. They said that the event was
not a "one-off" but the first of a series of activities aiming at
bringing down the government.
It was decided that politicians would not speak at the rally,
while bereaved families, artists, and intelligentsia would speak
instead.
The organizers told local Jerusalem Post that the organizing
committee had set up a headquarters whose mission was to force
Olmert to resign and that they "would not give up" until their
mission was accomplished.
An Israeli government-appointed committee probing the
shortcomings in the Second Lebanon War issued a report on April
30,accusing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir
Peretz, and former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz
of failing in their roles.
The majority of the Israeli public believes that Olmert should
step down because of the failures, according to polls published on
Wednesday.
A Yedioth Ahronoth poll found that 65 percent of Israelis
believe Olmert should resign immediately, while 25 percent prefer
to wait and see the committee's final report, due for publication
this summer. Ten percent think Olmert should remain in his
post.
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sits
between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (in blue jacket) and Deputy
Prime Minister Shimon Peres along with other ministers and
parliament members during a special debate on Israel's Lebanon war
inquiry, in the parliament in Jerusalem May 3, 2007. Olmert faced
on Thursday a major challenge to his pledge to stay in power, a
protest rally that organisers hope will draw at least 100,000
people demanding he resign over the Lebanon war.
(Xinhua News Agency May 4, 2007)
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