Israeli authorities in the all-Arab town of Nazareth were taking unusual precautionary measures to keep order tomorrow, May Day, following a riot between police and Communist demonstrators last night.
Twenty-six Israeli Arabs, including Communist Knesset deputy Emil Habibi, were arrested after police were stoned when they attempted to prevent a Communist sound truck from touring the city and calling on Arabs to join the Communist march. The police were repulsed the first time they tried to prevent the Communists from issuing their call, but with the arrival of reinforcements from Affulah, they broke up the demonstration and made their arrests.
The incident developed after the authorities, in an attempt to separate the three scheduled May Day parades–Mapai, Mapam and Communist–assigned a different time of day to each demonstration. The Communists, given time for their march tomorrow afternoon, called on the Arabs to march with them in the morning, instead. It was to this attempt to breach the regulations that the police objected.
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