Tel Aviv: A protester related to ‘Israel Spring’ was in hospital in a serious condition after setting himself alight at a march for social justice in Tel Aviv late Saturday, police said.
“He left photocopies in the street of a letter that he had read out before setting himself on fire,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP, adding that the man was in his forties.
“For us, it’s an attempted suicide,” she said.
Witnesses quoted by the news website Ynet also said the man had read out the letter before soaking himself with a flammable liquid and setting fire to himself.
“I accuse Israel, (Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu and (Finance Minister) Yuval Steinitz for the constant humiliation that the citizens of Israel must endure on a daily basis,” the letter continued.
Police estimated that around 8,000 people took part in two separate marches Saturday evening. Hundreds of protesters also turned out in Jerusalem and Haifa.
The demonstrations were to mark the first anniversary of mass protests against the spiralling cost of living.
After the initial wave of protests last year, in which hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets, the government set up a committee to look at reforms to meet the grievances of the protesters.
But only a limited number of such reforms have actually been implemented, say campaigners as reported by French news wire service AFP.
Organisers of the march in Tel Aviv had hoped a strong turn-out would help revive the movement, but they did not get the tens of thousands they had hoped for. And this year, the campaign has also been weakend by internal divisions.
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