More than 150 residents of Niâlin, international and Israeli activists attended todayâs weekly Friday protest against the Wall.
After the Friday prayer on the land, demonstrators marched towards one of the gates, chanting slogans against the confiscation of Palestinian land and calling for an end to Israeli military occupation and justice for the Palestinian people.
When the demonstrators reached the gate and started climbing the walls and fences, a small number of soldiers arrived in a jeep and started shooting large quantities of tear gas canisters into the crowd. After the crowd dispersed, clashes erupted between the soldiers and the demonstrators, with youth throwing stones and soldiers using live ammunition against the demonstrators.
Simultaneously, the main entrance of the village was closed down by Israeli forces, preventing everybody from either entering or leaving the village.
After about one hour, a large number of soldiers entered the land from two sides and started chasing the demonstrators towards the village, using large quantities of live ammunition.
One protestor (27 years old) was shot just above the knee and was taken to Ramallah hospital immediately. He is currently undergoing treatment and his situation is stable. The demonstration ended shortly after this incident.
Coordinator of the Niâlin Popular Committee, Ibrahim Ameera, stated: âPreventing people to enter our village and the use of live ammunition will not discourage our people from attending our peaceful struggle and claiming our legitimate rights. Niâlin will serve as a model for the Palestinian struggle and it will duplicated all around Palestine in order to resist the occupation and its racist, violent policies.â
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