IOF troops use rubber-coated bullets and water cannons to disperse demonstrators

[ 29/04/2011 - 08:06 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- IOF troops used rubber-coated bullets, teargas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators participating in weekly anti-wall demonstrations on Friday in various West Bank villages.

The confrontations with the occupation troops resulted in the injury of one Palestinian child and dozens of participants suffering breathing difficulties as a result of inhaling teargas.

In the village of Bilin, villagers and international solidarity activists participated in the demonstration called for by the popular committee to resist the wall and settlement and marched the streets of the village chanting slogans calling for unity, holding onto the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, resisting the occupation and the release of all prisoners.

As the demonstrators marched towards the apartheid wall, they were met by IOF troops with stun grenades, rubber-coated bullets and teargas canisters. The IOF troops also used water cannons which were used to spray demonstrators with dirty water mixed with chemicals.
Demonstrators welcomed the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah and considered it a fulfilment of popular demand and a step in the right direction to enable the Palestinian people to confront the challenges.
In the village Nilin the residents held the Friday prayers on their fields close to the apartheid wall and the Imam praised, during his Friday sermon, the signing of a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah.
The Imam further said after Palestinians achieve unity, they should resist occupation united and confront occupation schemes to confiscate more Palestinian lands and to Judaize occupied Jerusalem.
After the prayers were over the participants marched peacefully towards the apartheid wall raising the Palestinian flag and the flags of Fatah and Hamas in an expression of support for the reconciliation and called on both movements to speed the implementation of the agreement on the ground.
As the demonstrators approached the apartheid wall, IOF troops fired teargas canisters towards them and live ammunition in the air to disperse them. Many demonstrators suffered breathing difficulties as a result of inhaling teargas.
Meanwhile, in the Ma’sarah village the IOF troops arrested Hasan Breijeyyah (41) and a foreign sympathiser who were participating in the anti-wall demonstration. A number of other participants suffered breathing difficulties as they inhaled teargas fired by the IOF troops.

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