On Tuesday, the day of Israel's general elections, activists joined residents of Umm al-Fahm (a northern Arab town in the Triangle region) in their attempt to keep Israeli fascist provocateurs out of their city through popular direct action.
Demonstrators blocking the main road to Um al-Fahm
Hebron Settler and leader of the Jewish National Front, Baruch Marzel, appointed to oversee a polling station at the Al Ghazi school in the city, was stopped in the early morning hours by police at a nearby junction for security reasons, after dozens of residents and supporters blocked the main roads into the city, chanting "Fascism shall not pass!" and confronting overzealous police officers attempting time and time again to keep them off the road by force, under direct "Zero Tolerance" orders from their commander.
As Northern District police chief denied über-racist Marzel entry into the city, his seat as ballot box chairman was filled by fellow racist MK Aryeh Eldad of the National Union Party, who was rushed inside the school a few hours afterwards by a large police detail to the constant shouts of "murderer!" and "scum!" from the assembled protesters.
Police attempting to arrest a demonstrator outside the polling station, Um al-Fahm
Under rough weather of heavy rain and hail, enraged demonstrators laid siege to the polling station and even managed to bring some of its steel fence down, despite massive and aggressive police presence. After a short while, the crowd succeeded in getting MK Eldad whisked away from Umm al-Fahm inside a police van chased by angry residents. The day ended in a few light injuries and the arrest of five demonstrators, including Jaffa resident Samih Jabbarin, member of the Abnaa elBalad movement, which has called on Palestinian citizens of Israels to boycott the elections in order not to "continue supporting the Zionist regime." Eight residents of Umm elFahem were later snatched by police from their homes at night.
