Four locals injured and a dozen suffocated by tear gas in Bil'in's weekly demonstration

Friday 25-march-2011

Four locals injured and a dozen suffocated by tear gas in Bil'in's weekly demonstration

The slogan of this week's demonstration was 'End the Division and Occupation'

Four  local residents were injured in various parts of their body and a dozen of people fainted due to inhalation of concentrated and poisonous tear gas.  Many also suffered from colored and foul chemical liquid that was sprayed over the protesters by the Israeli Defense Force during the peaceful demonstration demanding an end of the division and occupation organized by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil'in.

The demonstration started after the Friday prayer where the crowd processed from the village's mosque towards the apartheid wall.

Many international and Israeli activists participated alongside local residents of Bil'in and neighboring villages. Joining them were also the hunger strikers of the 15/March movement. The protesters were holding Palestinian flags, banners of the leader, Marwan Al Bargoti, as well as posters of the martyrs Bassem and Jawaher Abu Rahmah while chanting "End the division and occupation".

When the protestors arrived to the east gate of the wall the soldiers attacked the protesters with tear gas canisters, rubber coated bullets, khartoush bullets ,sound bombs and chemical spray. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5DV_NVhH80

As a result, four  locals were wounded; ahmaed abo rahma,16 years old , khartoush bullet at his right leg ; Ibrahim Burnat, , 28 years old, tear gas canister was shot at his leg; samer ataya , 30 years old, a tear gas canister was shot at his leg; Mohamad Burnat, 22 years old, a tear gas was also shot at his face ; The victims were treated on the location of the protest in Bil'in. 

Bil’in – Ramallah: There were dozens of cases of severe asphyxiation from tear gas inhalation as a result of confrontations which occurred in the village of Bil’in, along with foreign peace and solidarity activists

Bil’in – Ramallah: There were dozens of cases of severe asphyxiation from tear gas inhalation as a result of confrontations which occurred in the village of Bil’in, along with foreign peace and solidarity activists, after Israeli Occupation Forces suppressed the weekly march protesting the Wall and settlements in the village of Bil’in.
Residents of Bil’in, alongside dozens of Israeli peace activists and foreign solidarity activists, participated in the weekly march that was called for by the Popular Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in.
During the march participants raised Palestinian flags and pictures of the martyrs Jawaher and Bassem Abu Rahamah, as well as yellow banners with the pictures of the imprisoned leader Marwan Barghouthi and Abdallah Abu Rahmah, the coordinator of the Popular Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in, and posters calling for the end of the division and the occupation.
Demonstrators made their way through the streets of the village chanting national slogans calling for unity and the setting aside of differences, emphasizing the necessity of holding fast to core Palestinian values, and for resistance to the Occupation, freedom for all prisoners, and freedom for Palestine. They chanted, “the people want to end the division, the people want to end the occupation!”
The march approached the Wall, where a military force from the Israeli army had made a human chain of soldiers close to the Wall gate on the west side in order to stop demonstrators from entering their lands beyond the Wall. A large number of soldiers were spread along the path of the Wall with a large vehicle for spraying demonstrations with green wastewater mixed with chemicals. With the demonstrators attempt to pass toward the soldiers, the army began to shoot sound bombs, rubber coated metal bullets, and tear gas bombs, and to spray demonstrators with wastewater toward them from all directions, leading to dozens of cases of severe asphyxiation.
A delegation from the French Foreign Ministry visited Bil’in, including Ms. Dominique Waj and Mr. Thierry Vallat. They met with the Popular Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlements in the office of the International Solidarity Movement in the village and listened to a detailed explanation from the Popular Committee about the experience of Bil’in in popular, peaceful resistance over the past six years, the accomplishments which the Popular Committee have achieved, the role of effective international solidarity in the popular resistance in Bil’in, the factors which contributed to the continuation of the popular resistance for a long period in the village, and the price which the village has paid. Afterwards, they took a tour of the Apartheid Wall in Bil’in.