Israeli police reverse restrictive conditions on march in Sakhnin to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the October 2000 Killings

On 29 September 2025, Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel sent an urgent letter on behalf Mohammad Barakeh, Chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and Mazen Ghanayem, Mayor of Sakhnin and Chair of the National Committee of Arab Mayors, to the Attorney General and the police leadership demanding the lifting of restrictive conditions imposed by the police on a march to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the October 2000 killings.  

In October 2000, protests spread across Palestinian towns in Israel in response to the government’s oppressive policies against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) at the beginning of the Second Intifada. During these protests, the Israeli police and other forces shot and killed 13 unarmed Palestinians (12 Palestinian citizens of Israel (PCI) and 1 Palestinian from Gaza). 

For more on the October 2000 Killings

The local police conditioned the granting of a permit for the march on the imposition of harsh restrictions, including a ban on the chanting of national slogans. In addition, the police limited the number of participants to 2,000 and demanded for the organizers to provide a plan of how they are going to make sure the number is not exceeded. In response, Adalah’s letter stressed that the police decision constituted an unlawful intervention in the content of slogans and in freedom of expression and assembly. Adalah further stressed that these conditions violate the Attorney General’s instructions, as well Supreme Court decisions that determine that such a restriction is only permissible in exceptional cases and where there is a real and demonstrable threat to public order.

On 30 September 2025, the police informed Adalah that they withdrew the conditions imposed on the commemoration march in Sakhnin, and the march went forward on 4 October 2025.