Women dressed in red form human chains to protest judicial overhaul in Israel

Thousands of women, dressed in red, formed human chains on Wednesday to protest against the planned judicial overhaul of the right-wing Israeli government that would strictly limit the powers of the judiciary.

Several sectyions of Israeli society have joined the weekly protests against the plans of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to limit the ability of Supreme Court to rule against the executive and the legislature, while giving decisive powers to lawmakers in appointment of judges.

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Marking the International Women's Day, the women joined the protests at the popular Tel Aviv beach-front promenade, while clapping and chanting "democracy".

"It's supposed to be a happy day that we celebrate our rights but now we need to protest again," said Moran Katzenstein at a demonstration in Jerusalem. "We all wear red and we show that we are drawing a red line and we will not allow this government to harm our rights,” she added.

The protesters waved signs reading "harming women's rights, not on our shift" and "women's struggle," as they demonstrated against the legislation, which was proposed by Netanyahu with his religious allies and right-wing groups last month.

On Monday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that a compromise in the judicial overhual plan of the government could be imminent, however, opposition leader Benny Gantz said that no negotiations will take place till the legislation is halted.

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"Agreements can be reached, compromise on democracy we cannot reach," Gantz stated. Women dressed in red stood in a line at the famous Tel Aviv beach-front promenade, while they clapped and chanted "democracy."

"We feel that every step of this reform is going to hurt women and take women's rights back," Adi Agasi-Shafir said. "We are going to be deprived of all the rights and achievements that we managed to get so far, it's really dangerous and we're not willing to accept that," Agasi-Shafir added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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