---
title: "Watch Thousands of Protesters Stand Six Feet Apart"
description: "More than 2,000 Israelis flooded a square in Tel Aviv on Sunday to protest their government's overreaching coronavirus policies standing six feet apart."
date: "2020-04-20"
modified: "2020-04-20"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/thousands-protesters-six-feet-apart"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "coronavirus"
  - "covid19"
  - "Israel"
---

# Watch Thousands of Protesters Stand Six Feet Apart

![More than 2,000 Israelis flooded a square in Tel Aviv on Sunday to protest their government's overreaching coronavirus policies standing six feet apart.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/thousands-protesters-six-feet-apart-2.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://twitter.com/ItayBlumental/status/1251925071956004869" target="\_blank"\>Itay Blumental via Twitter\</a\>\</em\>*

## Six Feet Apart

More than 2,000 Israeli citizens flooded Tel Aviv's Rabin Square on Sunday to protest their government's overreaching coronavirus policies — while standing six feet apart, in line with [social distancing guidelines](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/mit-professor-guidelines-stay-six-feet-arent-enough>).

Aerial images and videos of the square show a strikingly consistent web of evenly spaced people.

https://twitter.com/ItayBlumental/status/1251931012537421824

## Virus Age

It's a fascinating look at the realities of political protesting in the age of coronavirus. On one hand, dissent is important for democracy. But on the other, large crowds of people gathering in the streets can give the virus a [great opportunity to spread](<https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/large-events/mass-gatherings-ready-for-covid-19.html>).

"This is how democracies die in the 21st century," Yair Lapid, chairman of the country's centrist political party Yesh Atid, said in his speech as [quoted by *Haaretz*](<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-over-a-thousand-israelis-brave-coronavirus-fears-to-protest-netanyahu-1.8781869>), "They don't die because tanks overtake parliament, they die from the inside."

https://twitter.com/tomerappelbaum/status/1251943727469338627

## Black Flag

The protests are part of the "Black Flag" movement, which started last month when [hundreds of cars drove](<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-caravan-protesting-assault-on-democracy-stopped-on-way-to-jerusalem-1.8690489>) to Jerusalem to protest anti-democratic coronavirus policies.

The protest was aimed at anti-democratic measures passed by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the ongoing pandemic, which critics say are being used to consolidate power.

"A person with indictments can’t appoint a police chief, a state prosecutor, an attorney general, the judges who will deal with his case," Lapid said during his speech.

"What connects all the groups and causes is the shout out for Israeli democracy that is being harmed these days by Netanyahu and his allies," Shaqued Morag, executive director of the anti-occupation group Peace Now, [told *TIME*](<https://time.com/5824133/israel-netanyahu-covid-protest-lapid/>).

## Other Side

Despite the protests, polls have shown that [more than 50 percent](<https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Poll-finds-public-gives-good-marks-to-Netanyahu-on-coronavirus-622954>) of the population approved of his handling of the ongoing pandemic.

"They say, ‘We’ll fight from the inside.’ You won’t fight from the inside," Lapid said in his remarks. "You don’t fight corruption from within. If you’re inside, you’re part of it."

**READ MORE:** [Thousands of Israelis maintain social distancing while protesting Netanyahu](<https://www.axios.com/israel-black-flag-protests-coronavirus-netanyahu-0a984050-9438-42ee-8126-e624e7427fc1.html>) \[*Axios*\]

**More on the pandemic:** *[Experts: US Will Need 20 Million Tests per Day to Reopen Safely](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/experts-20-million-tests-per-day>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)