Dozens injured in a protest by asylum-seekers outside Eritrean Embassy in Israel

By OHAD ZWIGENBERG
Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Violent protests have erupted between hundreds of Eritrean asylum seekers and Israeli police in Tel Aviv during a protest against an event organized by the Eritrea Embassy. The Israeli police said 27 officers were injured in the clashes on Saturday. At least three protesters were shot by police firing live rounds after they felt “real danger to their lives.” Israeli police in riot gear and atop horses tried to corral the protesters who broke through barricades and hurled objects at police. Eritreans make up the majority of the more than 30,000 African asylum-seekers in Israel. They say they fled danger and persecution from a country known as the “North Korea of Africa” with forced lifetime military conscription in slavery-like conditions.