Eritrean migrants protest for asylum in Tel Aviv

Dozens of Eritrean migrants staged a protest outside Israel's Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

Demonstrators protested to denounce the detention of hundreds of asylum seekers in the Saharonim prison in the Negev, a desert region in southern Israel. Eritrean migrants also called on Israel's Interior Minister Eli Yishai to grant them the refugee status. Some protesters held signs saying "Being black is not crime" and "Freedom yes, Prison no!”, while others chanted "Remember your history Yishai".

Eyewitnesses reported a heavy police presence.

According to a report by 972mag, some 500 asylum seekers have started a hunger strike to protest a recently-passed law, which enables the Israeli government to keep asylum seekers detained in the Saharonim prison indefinitely.

Thousands of Africans fleeing conflicts in Eritrea and Sudan have tried to cross the border to Israel in recent years.

(NewsPoint)