Two men were killed and five others injured in a street brawl in south Tel Aviv on Saturday morning between Eritrean migrants, apparently as part of an ongoing dispute between pro-regime and anti-regime groups, according to a police statement.
Police said the gangs hurled stones and attacked each other with sticks and spikes. Officers arrived on the scene to break up the fight and in some cases fired warning shots in the air.
Medics said paramedics who arrived at the location of the fight near the Central Bust Station found two men in their 30s badly beaten, unconscious and not breathing. Resuscitation was unsuccessful and their deaths were pronounced at the scene.
Five others injured in the fight — two seriously, two moderately and one lightly — were evacuated to hospitals for medical treatment.
“We received a report of a fight between a number of men. We reached the location in full force and saw a large riot,” said MDA paramedic Simcha Simandoyev and medic Shoham Levy.
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They added that an intensive care team treated the severely and moderately injured men before rushing them to the hospital.
תל-אביב שבת בבוקר.
מספר מתפללים שייצאו מהכנסיה האריתראית בתל אביב כתוצאה מדקירות וריסוס בגז. pic.twitter.com/qCcjJtfp20
— ????or keren (@Wq0oQJmUSfZunt5) August 24, 2024
“Other teams gave medical attention at the scene to a number of other injured men who were fully conscious and were suffering from light injuries to their bodies,” they said.
In a similar incident last month, one person was killed and another seriously injured in a violent brawl that broke out between Eritrean migrants in south Tel Aviv.
Clashes between the two groups have occurred intermittently. In May, a man was stabbed to death in a similar incident in south Tel Aviv, while last September, at least 170 people were hurt — including police officers — in major clashes in the city.
The string of incidents since last year has brought attention to the roughly 20,000 Eritreans who are living in Israel, after entering illegally before the completion of a barrier along the Egyptian border in 2012.
Various Israeli governments have taken a series of measures — some of which were blocked by the courts — to encourage the migrants, many of whom are seeking asylum due to war and oppression in their home country, to leave.
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