More than 100,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square Thursday evening in a national protest, calling on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz to resign over the failures in the Second Lebanon War. 

More than 100,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square Thursday evening in a national protest, calling on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz to resign over the failures in the Second Lebanon War.

A Xinhua correspondent saw a banner reading "Failures, Go Home!" was hung behind a podium that was set up at one end of the square in front of Tel Aviv city hall.

As the rally kicked off at 7:00 p.m.(1600 GMT), Rabin square filled up despite a rain. Hundreds of policemen were deployed for the event and roads were closed leading to the venue.

The organizers of the mass demonstration claimed that more than150,000 people were in attendance. They said that the event was not a "one-off" but the first of a series of activities aiming at bringing down the government.

It was decided that politicians would not speak at the rally, while bereaved families, artists, and intelligentsia would speak instead.

The organizers told local Jerusalem Post that the organizing committee had set up a headquarters whose mission was to force Olmert to resign and that they "would not give up" until their mission was accomplished.

An Israeli government-appointed committee probing the shortcomings in the Second Lebanon War issued a report on April 30,accusing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz of failing in their roles.

The majority of the Israeli public believes that Olmert should step down because of the failures, according to polls published on Wednesday.

A Yedioth Ahronoth poll found that 65 percent of Israelis believe Olmert should resign immediately, while 25 percent prefer to wait and see the committee's final report, due for publication this summer. Ten percent think Olmert should remain in his post.

 

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sits between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (in blue jacket) and Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres along with other ministers and parliament members during a special debate on Israel's Lebanon war inquiry, in the parliament in Jerusalem May 3, 2007. Olmert faced on Thursday a major challenge to his pledge to stay in power, a protest rally that organisers hope will draw at least 100,000 people demanding he resign over the Lebanon war.

(Xinhua News Agency May 4, 2007)