Dozens of residents of Bil’in village, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Israeli and international peace activists, along with a Basque Nationalist musical group, protested on Friday against the construction of the annexation Wall on their orchards.
The protest started in front of the mosque of the village and marched towards the gate of the Wall.
The Basque musical group, in traditional ceremonial attire and formation, kept the beat for the demonstration by marching with large bells that they wore on their lower backs.
The army responded with violence and fired rubber-coated bullets and sound bombs in an attempt to stop the protest.
The Basque Nationalist musical returned to perform their art after the soldiers fired their guns, and passed through a line of soldiers that was holding the people back.
Five people were injured in the protest, they were identified as; Ahmed Mohammad Hamad, 55, of Bil’in, who suffered an injury in his right ear after a sound bomb exploded near him, Mohammed Khateeb, 33, of Bil’in suffered bruises after being attacked by the soldiers, Aashraf Askar, 22, from Tulkarem, suffered a rubber-coated bullet injury in his upper left thigh, Khaled, 18, from Bil’in, as hit with a rubber bullet in the leg, and an American peace activist who was scratched on his forearms from a shrapnel of a sound bomb.
Soldiers attempted to arrest a resident identified as Eyad Bornat, but other Palestinians and one international peace activist managed to free him after the soldiers attacked and clubbed them when the activists were caught between the Jeeps and the barbed wire.
The activists grabbed the hands of the soldiers in an attempt to stop the beating and managed to deescalate the situation.
Later on the soldiers attempted to arrest Bornat again, but the residents and activists managed to prevent them.
Troops declared the area of the protest as a closed military zone in an attempt to bar the residents and activists to protest there.
Three days ago, troops declared the area of the Palestinian licensed outpost near the annexation Wall a closed military zone until next Sunday. The outpost is used by Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists.
Soldiers barred the residents and peace activists from crossing behind the Wall while a resident, currently there, remained isolated without access to food.
