A few hours later, after recognizing that events were spiraling out of control, they began to employ riot dispersal methods, including the use of tear gas and stun grenades.
[2] In 2015, a video clip showing Ethiopian-Israeli soldier Damas Pakada being beaten by policemen set off protests that lasted for ten days.
Although Pakada, an IDF soldier working in a cyber unit, believed the incident to have been motivated by racism, the court case closed without significant punishment being leveled against the defendants.
[3][16] On the evening of 30 June 2019, an off-duty police officer in Kiryat Haim, a neighborhood in the northern part of the city of Haifa, had gone on an outing with his wife and three small children to a playground.
[4] On 17 July, Channel 12 reported that medical examiners had found a quantity of alcohol in Teka's body "at twice the level of a drunk person", along with traces of hashish.
[21] On 4 February 2020, the police officer, whose name remained under gag order, was indicted by state prosecutors for negligent homicide.
[22] In the wake of the killing, thousands of Ethiopian Jews rioted and staged protests in several Israeli cities beginning on 2 July.
Meanwhile, demonstrators created makeshift roadblocks in important intersections in several major Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv and Haifa, by burning tires in them.
[1][2] But when updated information about the number of injured officers reached supervisors, it was announced that they would start clamping down on the protesters.
Eventually, the police started using force to clear the blocked roads,[3] while simultaneously employing a tactic of negotiations with leaders of the community.
[1] Utilising a variety of riot dispersal methods at their disposal, including tear gas and stun grenades, police began to overpower the rioters.
Nonetheless, in the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Ata a mass of over one thousand people converged on a police station, where some of the protesters managed to hurl smoke grenades into the building.
[3]Israel's emergency medical corps Magen David Adom (MDA) reported that some of the people who were stuck in traffic due to the roads blocked by protesters needed help and medicine.
[8] Emergency services said that they treated 50 people with injuries, including protesters, police officers and even random drivers caught in the traffic jams created by the blockades.
[15] Amir Peretz, winner of the primary for the leadership of the Israeli Labor Party on 2 July, postponed his victory celebration due to the protests.
He said, "I've decided not to hold my victory celebration in light of the deep rift [in Israeli society] that is being intensified in front of our very eyes and the protest of the Ethiopian community.
"[11] In a video statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "We're all mourning the tragic death of the youth Solomon Teka...
"[2][10] Minister Gilad Erdan, the Israeli Public Security minister, expressed his sorrow at Teka's killing and reiterated the Ethiopians' right to demonstrate non-violently, saying "We will fight for the rights of people to protest...but we will not tolerate anarchy and we will not tolerate a major hit to the public order.