***image2***Occupation forces yesterday attacked a popular demonstration in the town of West Bank town of Bil’in, breaking a man’s arm and firing tear gas at nearby homes.
The attacks happened at the town’s weekly demonstration against the Occupation.
Around a hundred demonstrators were walking towards the Apartheid Wall under the banner of a large Palestinian flag chanting slogans when troops opened fire with sound bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets.
When the demonstrators did not disperse, Israeli forces attacked them with batons. Undeterred, demonstrators blocked the movement of an armoured jeep while two Palestinian men climbed onto the roof, planting the Palestinian flag in the windscreen eliciting cheers from other demonstrators.
Video footage taken at the scene shows Occupation Forces threatening to break the demonstrators’ arms and legs and beating an elderly Palestinian man to the floor. The “breaking bone policy” is a longstanding tactic from the first Intifada, where occupation forces were ordered to break Palestinian’s arms and legs instead of arresting them in order to prevent them from becoming martyrs and to save space in Israel’s overcrowded jails.
After a struggle, demonstrators were force to disperse and the soldiers advanced firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the town. A local family were forced to run for shelter after tear-gas shells were deliberately fired at their house. Local youths resisted by throwing stones at soldiers.
It is common practice for the Israeli military to designate areas as ‘closed military zones’ where they have effective license to assault demonstrators and others.
Twenty protesters were treated for minor injuries and one taken to hospital with broken arm.
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