Hundreds of Israelis rally statewide against judicial changes

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis from all across the country joined a statewide protest against the new judicial reforms on March 25 evening.

The reforms were put forward by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration, according to The Times of Israel.

As the protests were held, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant gave a televised address in which he called for the coalition to halt the legislative push until after Passover and several holidays next month to allow for talks on judicial reform, while stressing his support for making changes to the judiciary and calling for the protests to immediately stop. Coalition sources said the legislation would go ahead as planned.

The main demonstration was held in Tel Aviv, where some 200,000 were estimated to attend the main rally held on the coastal city’s Kaplan Street.

Tens of thousands also attended protests in numerous other locations throughout the country, including major cities like Jerusalem, Haifa and Beersheba.

Protest organisers claimed that in total, over 630,000 people attended the rallies. The figure could not be independently verified.