Israelis stage mass protests over rising living costs

The largest protest was in Tel Aviv where police said at least 200,000 people were on the streets, while another 30,000 marched in Jerusalem.

In one of biggest waves of protests in decades in Israel, demonstrators are demanding government action to reduce the cost of housing and food.

One of the organisers, 33-year-old Baroch Oren, said the movement was "a revolution". "There has been nothing like this for decades - all these people coming together, taking to the streets, demanding change."

Israel's annual economic growth is relatively healthy, averaging 4.5% since 2004, and in the same period unemployment has fallen from about 11% to 6%.

But the public say this growth has failed to benefit them and there is growing public anger over perceived social inequality, injustice and official corruption.

One of the organisers, 33-year-old Baroch Oren, said the movement was "a revolution". "There has been nothing like this for decades - all these people coming together, taking to the streets, demanding change."

Israel's annual economic growth is relatively healthy, averaging 4.5% since 2004, and in the same period unemployment has fallen from about 11% to 6%. But the public say this growth has failed to benefit them and there is growing public anger over perceived social inequality, injustice and official corruption.

www.bbc.co.uk...

wow...200,000...250,000 total protesters?? That's a large number when compared to the size of the country itself.

This is the middle class in Israel protesting the increased cost of living and wealth disparity.

Looks like what has happened in many arab countries has now spread to israel.

They should all move to Palestine, i hear its cheap to live there

I wonder if they realize their govt has recently printed massive amounts of money.

On top of the money printing their entire economy is cartelized by government backed oligarchs who are free from any competition and feeling completely secure -- overcharge as much as they want.

Really they have all that free land right next to them so they should just start building more houses.

I don't see the problem unless they don't have enough construction teams or something.

I don't know the intricacies of Israeli politics...but if that many people are protesting...there definitely has to be a problem.

These protests have been happening supposedly for a month...and continue to get bigger and bigger.

As of may 2011, Israel's population is approx 7.7 million.

Nearly a quarter of a million have protested.

That's a very high ratio.

Compare that to virtually any protest in the USA....this easily dwarfs them.