The people of Budrus, for the fifth day, returned to their lands today to oppose the Apartheid Wall which is threatening their village and their livelihood.
***image2***The people began their demonstration at 10:30 this morning when they headed toward their threatened lands, where Occupation Forces have already started building the Wall. While marching to the lands, two Occupation vehicles followed the people, as the military presence has been especially strong in Budrus since the demonstrations began. The protestors were chanting and shouting against the Wall and the Occupation. Today, there were no clashes in the land; as well there was little to no Wall construction in the face of the opposition.
On the way back to the village, the people started to block and close the roads in an effort to stop the Occupation soldiers from following and arresting the demonstrators, as they usually do. However, the soldiers still followed and the people began to throw stones. The soldiers broke into the people’s houses and started shooting tear gas and rubber bullets at them. Three people were injured and the Occupation soldiers also captured a Palestinian, Amer Zuhri, who was in his house. They took him to the fields and started beating him, as they have been doing for the past several days to other Palestinians in Budrus. Another Palestinian was shot in his neck and one international woman from a solidarity group was shot in her back. The confrontations continued until 2pm, at which time the Occupation Forces closed all entrances to the village from Qibya and Ni’ilin, barred any movement, in or out. For a week now, the Occupation Forces have imposed curfew on Budrus and have been going into people’s homes and beating them. Thus far, more than 9 Palestinians have been arrested.
This is the fifth day that the people of Budrus, Qibya and Ni’ilin have gone to their land to refuse the construction of the Apartheid Wall. Each time, the Occupation soldiers prevent the people form sitting in their own lands, which leads to clashes between the Occupation Forces and the villagers. The people in the village say that they will continue to resist the Occupation and the Apartheid Wall and that they are determined to stop the bulldozing of what is left of their lands. To this point, the people have succeeded in delaying the construction significantly.
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News of the previous Budrus demonstrations can be read here:
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.