At least 17 people including children suffered from gas inhalation when the Israeli army fired a number of CS gas canisters at protestors in the village of Ni’lin near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday.Salah Khawaja, coordinator of the Ni’lin popular committee, told IMEMC that nearly 400 Palestinians, internationals and Israelis took to the streets of the village to nonviolently protest the construction of the wall and settlements on the village’s land.
The protest started following the Friday noon prayers, when worshippers and international and Israeli solidarity activists walked towards the construction site of the wall. Israeli soldiers opened fire towards the peaceful protesters, preventing them reaching the wall.
Israeli troops then declared the area a closed military zone and clashed with the protestors.
On Thursday, the popular committee in Ni’lin organized a nonviolent protest. Israeli troops fired CS gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets at the nonviolent demonstrators, wounding nine people, including four children.