Thousands attend weekly protest against Israel's Netanyahu

 Several thousand protesters gared outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem on Saturday night in what has become a weekly demonstration calling for Israeli leer to resign.

protesters have been demonstrating for some five months, saying Netanyahu is unfit to le while he is on trial for corruption charges and because of his handling of coronavirus crisis. pandemic has hit Israel’s ecomy hard, and many of protesters are students and young Israelis who have lost ir jobs.

Many protesters held Israeli flags or black or pink flags, which grassroots movements behind demonstrations have opted as symbols. With wear cooling down ahe of rainy winter season, turut Saturday appeared to be lower than in recent weeks.

Smaller demonstrations also were reported in Tel Aviv, outside Netanyahu’s vacation home in upscale coastal town of Caesarea and locations across country.

Netanyahu dismisses protesters as “anarchists” and “leftists.”

Israel moved quickly to stop coronavirus last spring, sealing its borders and imposing a lockdown that appeared to bring virus under control. But reopening of ecomy was mismand, and virus quickly returned, forcing a second lockdown in September.

country is w slowly reopening sectors of ecomy as it proceeds cautiously with an exit plan. Netanyahu anunced that he has reached an agreement to procure next year 8 million doses of new vaccine being developed by Pfizer, if vaccine is approved by regulators.

Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes. His trial is scheduled to enter its evidentiary phase in January.