Students, police clash as protest overflows onto Ayalon

Students and police clashed Wednesday as a protest at the Tel Aviv University campus overflowed into the streets and neighboring Ayalon Highway, with mixed reports of excessive force and violence on the part of riot police.

The demonstration began as a rally on the university campus. For more than an hour, protesters blocked the Lebanon and Einstein street junction next to the campus, burning tires. Hundreds of police officers lined up to stop the students from marching through the rest of Ramat Aviv. But later, a few hundred students marched from the other side of the campus onto the Ayalon Highway.

In light of the violent clashes that erupted at student demonstrations last week, Tel Aviv district police tried to demonstrate restraint. Over several hours of protests, 32 students were detained for disorderly conduct and three police officers were hospitalized with minor injuries.

Earlier in the week, the police recommended student leaders apply for a permit to hold yesterday's demonstration, which they pledged to grant. Police would then have blocked streets in Ramat Aviv for the students.

However, police say student organizers refused to apply for a permit and promised the demonstration would not leave campus grounds. In the morning, about 3,000 students gathered by the junction, eventually spilling out into the streets around 1 P.M. Police tried not to confront demonstrators, although they decided to prevent them from advancing westward from the junction or eastward toward Ayalon. Even when students succeeded in circumventing police barriers and blocking a nearby exit ramp, police refrained from using force to remove them. The road remained blocked for several hours.