The environmental student group Green Course on Monday launched a protest and public awareness campaign supporting what they call "the right of the public to enter Lake Kinneret [beaches] free of charge."

The organization's activists tried to sneak into pay beaches Monday, and on Tuesay tore down the fences around several beaches.

Roughly 30 Green Course activists arrived at Lake Kinneret to participate in the protest activities, saying "several months after the National Council for Planning and Construction approved the opening of the Lake Kinneret loop trail, there are still 122 illegal fences on its shores that block free movement along the trail."

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"We've coming to the Lake Kinneret to remind the government and interior minister that free access to the beaches is one of the rights of the public by law," said Eli Assa, Green Course's Lake Kinneret activity coordinator. "The interior minister must enforce the law and the decision of the National Council for Planning and Construction and remove the illegal fences."

"The removal of the fences at the Sea of Galilee must be accompanied by budgetary allocations to the local authorities for ongoing maintenance of Lake Kinneret," said Green Course Director-General Gil Yaacov said.

In addition, the group's members are undertaking a public awareness campaign to reach out to bathers at the Lake Kinneret, as well as assisting the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel in blazing the trail.

A procession will take place Wednesday on the newest portion of the trail, between Hokuk and Dekel beaches near Tiberias.