Demonstrators in Israel, who have been out protesting for more than two months against a contentious government proposal to overhaul the judiciary, launched a “day of resistance to dictatorship” on Thursday. Protesters waving Israeli flags descended on the country’s main international airport, snarling traffic and blocking the artery leading to the departures area with their cars.

The protesters main objective Thursday was to complicate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s journey to the airport ahead of a state visit to Rome.

Regular passenger flights were not interrupted, an airport spokeswoman said, although some travellers said they had to leave their cars beyond the protesters’ convoy and reach the terminal by foot.

Elsewhere, protesters blocked main intersections in the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv and other cities. A small flotilla of paddleboards and kayaks tried to close off a main maritime shipping lane off the northern city of Haifa.

The uproar over Netanyahu’s legal overhaul has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. Beyond the protests, which have drawn tens of thousands of Israelis to the streets and recently became violent, opposition has surged from across society, with business leaders and legal officials speaking out against what they say will be the ruinous effects of the plan.

The police have pledged to prevent the disturbances and said they had already made arrests as the protests were underway. Police on horseback were stationed in central Tel Aviv where protesters were marching and a water canon truck was parked nearby.

Thursday’s demonstration in Tel Aviv, the country’s business centre, and its liberal heartland, was not nearly as large as the one last week, when police cracked down on what had otherwise been peaceful protests, lobbing stun grenades and scuffling with demonstrators.