Immigration and Riot Police Break Up Peaceful Protest Camp of Detained Refugees

Israeli riot police, immigration police and the special Yoav Unit launched a violent crackdown on the protest camp asylum-seekers erected near the Israeli-Egyptian border tonight (Sunday). Videos and photos from the scene as well as reports by activists and refugees there indicate disproportionate use of force by the police forces.

Two days ago, over 1,000 asylum-seekers from Eritrea and Sudan walked out of the Holot detention facility to protest against their indefinite detention by Israeli authorities, and marched to the Egypt-Israel border. They called for the UNHCR and the international community to interfere and take responsibility for them. After they were physically prevented by the Israeli military from reaching the border, they remained about one kilometer from the border in a makeshift camp they created, refusing to return to indefinite detention in Holot.