Students from Al Quds University, in the area of Abu Dis east of Jerusalem, held a protest on Sunday that was violently assaulted by Israeli troops. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that 52 of the protesters were injured, most of whom were either hit by rubber-coated steel bullets or suffered from tear gas inhalation.
The 52 injured were treated by Palestinian Red Crescent medics on the scene, and one young man was taken to the hospital with a fracture in his hand.
The protest at the university took place a day after Israeli forces invaded the area and raided a number of homes, issuing notices to homeowners requiring that they “maintain stability and security in the area”.
The military also invaded Abu Dis on Thursday at dawn, raiding homes and abducting one young man.
The homes that were invaded belonged to Palestinian political prisoners and the families of Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli forces.
As to the clashes on Sunday, a spokesperson for hammad Abu al-Zeit told Ma’an that although the clashes took place outside the campus, some tear gas canisters and rubber-coated bullets fired by Israeli forces landed inside the university grounds.
The protests come in the context of numerous Israeli attacks on Palestinian towns and villages – including an attack on a protest in Gaza earlier this week in which Israeli soldiers killed a 15-year old boy.
Over 2,600 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2016 – many of them during non-violent demonstrations against the Israeli Annexation Wall and settlements that are being continually constructed on Palestinian land.
