Police officers violated protocol during the arrest of social protest activists in Tel Aviv rally on Saturday night, the suspects’ legal representatives and police officials told Haaretz on Monday.

On Sunday, Tel Aviv Magistrate’s court ordered the release of demonstrators who were arrested during a protest Saturday night, with Judge Tzachi Uziel rejecting and criticizing the police’s unusual request to keep the suspect in custody. Uziel said that they do not have criminal records and that the police should have released them until the proceeding against them come to a close.

The judge also warned of an infringement on freedom of expression and the right to protest, saying these are “basic rights,” adding, however, that “they are not unlimited and whoever exercises… them must do so while upholding the law and not causing disorder or harming public safety.” He added that none of the suspects are charged with the damage caused to bank windows on Saturday night.

The police decided to indict 37 of the protesters arrested in Saturday’s demonstration. Protesters said the police used excessive violence to disperse the demonstration, in which activists blocked major streets and highways and broke into branches of Hapoalim, Leumi and Discount banks.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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