Eli Yishai
Photo: Atta Awisat, Yedioth Ahronoth
Refugees protest against Yishai in London
Eritreans hold demonstration outside Israeli Embassy in London in protest of interior minister's order to detain infiltrators
Several dozen Eritrean refugees demonstrated outside the Israeli Embassy in London
earlier this week in protest of Minister Eli Yishai's
order
to detain Eritrean and Sudanese infiltrators, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.
The protesters carried signs which called on Israel to stop the abuse of refugees and the racial discrimination against them. They addressed a petition signed by 2,300 people to President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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The petition, sent to the embassy, noted that senseless hatred being inflamed by rightist politicians has prompted attacks against Eritreans and other asylum seekers. "Eritreans in Israel live in a general atmosphere of fear," the petition read.
The protesters added that they were being threatened with deportation and incarceration in "the world's biggest tent cities." "Eli Yishai, Israel's interior minister, said the goal was to make their lives miserable."
The petition further noted that Israel is bound by the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. They called on Israel to stop the incitement to violence and threats of deportation and incarceration.
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