Protesters and police clash outside Knesset

As the Knesset plenum holds a special session today, protesters and police are clashing outside. Some protesters tried to break into the Knesset to heckle the politicians.

A protest organizer said, "This is a non-violent march. The police are part of the struggle. We didn�t try to break into the Knesset. The Knesset guards made much ado about nothing."

Another activist said, "A force of Knesset guards began the violence, grabbing activists by the hair."

Opposition party Kadima summoned the special session during the Knesset's summer recess to discuss the social protests against the high cost of living. No government minister bothered to attend the session, except for Benny Begin. Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz are present.

"The Netanyahu government is fighting the middle class and the poor," said Kadima chairwoman MK Tzipi Livni at the start of the debate. "I met a young woman who told me that she can barely afford to send her children to daycare and that she is ashamed to ask her parents for help. She says she supports the protest but has been threatened that if she continues to protest, she will harm the country's security. That is how they are talking about the good people, and they should not be making budget decisions."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 16, 2011