TEL AVIV, Israel, May 24 (UPI) -- An Israeli lawmaker is calling for the evacuation of African asylum seekers from Tel Aviv after a day of violent anti-African protest.
Member of Parliament Danny Dannon told Haaretz the evacuation is the most immediate solution to the violence.
"The infiltrators must be distanced immediately," he said Thursday. "We must expedite the construction of temporary detention facilities and remove Africans from population centers."
Wednesday's violent protests resulted in 17 arrests after demonstrators beat African migrants in the street and shattered windows of businesses that serve the migrant community. More than 1,000 people protested in Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood calling for the Israeli government to oust African asylum seekers, crying "infiltrators get out of our home."
Dannon was among the crowds, along with fellow lawmakers Miri Regev, Yariv Levin and Michael Ben-Ari.
During the protests, Regev called migrants "a cancer in our society." She told Ynetnews.com Thursday: "I do not condone violence and never have."
"This is a real demographic threat," Regev said, explaining remarks she made Wednesday. "We need to understand that the residents' lives have become unbearable. Jews and Israelis are scared of living in their country."
Yariv Oppenheimer, general director of the activist group Peace Now, petitioned the Attorney General to investigate members of Parliament who attended protests, accusing them of inciting civil unrest, Arutz Sheva reported
"The State of Israel is at war with an enemy state of infiltrators, with its capital in south Tel Aviv," Dannon said in response to the petition. "The solution to all the negative things they bring with them is immediate deportation -- before it's too late."
