Police presence is notably beefed up following spike in tensions between African migrants, residents in south Tel Aviv.
By YAAKOV LAPPINThinkstock Israeli police 370(photo credit: Thinkstock)
A tense calm returned to the streets of southern Tel Aviv Friday, as African migrants sat in small cafes and walked around the central bus station area.The police presence was notably beefed up.Law enforcement officials deployed a large force of border police, regular police and volunteers to better secure areas of southern Tel Aviv that have recently seen a spike in friction between African migrants and local residents.Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Yochanan Danino and Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch had agreed to add approximately 40 police to the area to try to calm the streets.The high alert is expected to last through the Shavuot holiday.An 18-year-old resident of Tel Aviv was arrested Friday morning on suspicion of belonging to a gang which targeted African migrants for physical assault.The group on Wednesday night, assaulted migrants and police, as well as looting storefronts belonging to Africans.On Thursday night a group of locals protested outside Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv demanding that the government put forward clear policies to solve the migrant issue, including refraining from what they labeled as incitement against the migrants.
