Israeli forces injured six Palestinians and a Korean activist on Friday in the village of Kafr Qaddum in the northern occupied West Bank district of Qalqiliya during the village’s weekly march against the Israeli occupation.
Popular resistance coordinator Murad Shteiwi said that Israeli forces “attacked” protesters and fired tear gas canisters, sound bombs, and rubber-coated steel bullets into the crowd during the march, which, according to Shteiwi, marked the sixth year anniversary of the weekly protests organized by the village.
He said that six Palestinians had sustained injuries, one of whom was wounded in the head, and a female supporter from Korea was wounded with a rubber bullet.
RT @occpal: IOF soldiers crack down on protestors, arrest Korean activist http://t.co/SGPKDCJg | #Korea #Palestine
— Abbas Hamideh (@Resistance48) June 9, 2012
Shteiwi added that all had been transferred to Rafidia Hospital for medical treatment.
Shteiwi emphasized that after six years of organizing a march every Friday, residents of Kafr Qaddum were still determined to continue the protests until “all our goals are achieved.”
An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that a “violent riot” had broken out in Kafr Qaddum, when some 100 Palestinians “rolled burning tires and threw rocks” at Israeli forces.
Korea says "Free Palestine": A South Korean activist holds a placard denouncing Israeli President Shimon Peres as a… http://goo.gl/fb/wA7bu
— Hazem Ismail حازم (@Hazimiai) June 10, 2010
“In response to the immediate threat,” she added, Israeli army forces had “used crowd dispersal means” to suppress the “riot.”
However, several minutes later, the spokesperson told Ma’an that Israeli army forces were not actually present at the protest, and instead it was the Israeli border police. When asked how she had provided a statement on the protests if none of their forces were present, she said “we received reports on what happened on the ground, but none of our forces were there.”
An Israeli police spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
(Maan, PC, Social Media)
