Residents of a low-income Tel Aviv neighbourhood descended to the streets, waving Israeli flags and chanting "Deport the Sudanese" and "Infiltrators get out of our homes" to protest against the increase of African migrants moving into the area and the country.

The protest rapidly turned violent and police arrested 17 people with charges ranging from assault to vandalism. Some of them were still beating up migrants when they were arrested.

Protesters in the Hatikva neighbourhood set trash cans alight, broke some stores window and attacked African migrants who were passing-by. They also attacked an African migrant driving through the area and broke his car's windows.

Reports suggest the protesters targeted local shops known to have African migrants as customers.

Another group of demonstrators stopped a shuttle taxi searched for migrant workers among the passengers, while banging on the windows, the newspaper Haaretz reported.