Six wounded in Bil'ins weekly protest

Friday September 12, 2008 22:06 by IMEMC News

Residents of Bil’in village near Ramallah gathered today chanting slogans and calling for national unity among the Palestinians as part of their weekly nonviolent protest.

Israeli troops placed razor wire on the main road in the village to prevent the protestors, who marched after Friday prayers, from reaching the construction site and the gate in the fence. In a press release, the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in condemned the recent Israeli decision to confiscate hundreds of acres in the villages of Jayyous and Falamiya near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia in order to expand Israeli settlements.

When the protesters reached the gate, the army fired C.S. gas, concussion grenades, and rubber-coated steel bullets at them.  Dozens suffered from gas inhalation and six protesters were hit by rubber-coated bullets.  Five of the six were identified as Tamer el-Khateeb, Eyad Burnat, Abdullah and Adeeb Abu Rahma, and Yaseen Muhmmad.

A group of college professors and journalists from Belgium who had earlier visited Ni’lin also visited Bil'in today.  The group listened to a presentation by the local committee about the experience of Bil’in over the past four years of non-stop weekly nonviolent protests.

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