Some 20,000 Israeli Arabs protested against Israeli authorities for closing the case on 13 people shot dead during riots in 2000.
The Israeli attorney general’s office closed the case this week, saying the evidence against Israeli police accused in the killings was inconclusive.
Thirteen people died in October 2000 when police opened fire on Israeli Arabs rioting in solidarity with their Palestinian counterparts, who had just launched a campaign of violence that would become known as the second intifada. The October 2000 riots marked a rare occasion that Israeli Arabs joined in widespread Palestinian protests.
On Friday, Israeli Arab municipal and parliamentary leaders declared a one-day strike to protest the closing of the case and led the protest in the Galilee town of Sakhnin.
“The same hand that wrote the decision pulled the trigger in 2000,” Jamal Zahalka, a Knesset member representing the National Democratic Assembly, told the protesters, according to an Israel Radio report.
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