Protest: ‘Refugees Are Not Cancer’
Some 300 African asylum seekers held a protest march against government policy and violence directed against them by Tel Aviv residents on Sunday.
The protesters marched from Tel Aviv’s Levinsky Park to the UN mission in Ha’hashmonaim Street carrying signs which read “Don’t forget history. Being a refugee is not a choice” “A refugee is not cancer, he’s a person who escaped persecution and is entitled to protection” and “We want group protection, not refugee rights.”
The protesters are seeking greater UN involvement in their campaign for refugee status. Several argued that the UN’s Refugee Agency must see to it that should they be deported from Israel, it would be to a democratic state.
“We have come to tell the lovely people of Tel Aviv that we are sorry for any girl who got raped and are asking you to treat us as individuals, not a collective. Those who committed a crime are not the majority.”