Israelis demonstrate against cost of living

Several thousand Israelis demonstrated Saturday evening in downtown Tel Aviv against the high cost of living and social inequalities in the country. The demonstrators, who are seeking to relaunch a protest movement that swept Israel last summer, held up placards saying "the people demand social justice" and "we want social justice, not charity", an AFP correspondent said. Similar demonstrations were reported in other Israeli cities. Some of the protesters called for the departure of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who last year appointed a government committee to look into social demands. Last year's protest movement culminated in September with nearly half a million Israelis taking to the streets to protest high rents.