Israeli private security opens live fire on unarmed Israeli and Palestinians demonstrators. Army arrives and throws tear gas on the demonstrators.
This morning, roughly 40 unarmed Palestinians among with four Israelis, held a demonstration at an illegal Israeli quarry built on the land of the villages of Ni’ilin and Budrus. As the demonstrators approached the quarry they could see an Israeli private security guard screaming at them from a small distance. Within seconds, the guard opened live fire on the protesters. He even took time to aim at individual protesters. The below video was shot by one of the activists on the scene.
According to eyewitnesses, within five minutes three Israeli military jeeps arrived and told the protesters to leave and that the area was a closed military zone. Instead of disciplining the security guard for opening live fire on unarmed demonstrators, soldiers attacked the group with tear gas. Palestinians are reporting that one person was hit in the head with shrapnel. The below video is from a demonstration held in the same area earlier in the week.
UPDATE:
The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, which had members on the ground at the demonstration, has a report of the demonstration.
Despite the entirely peacful nature of the demonstration, fire was quick to be shot. As soon as the quarry’s security guards noticed the procession, form a distance of about 200 meters, they opened fire with live ammunition. Initially, the guards fired a vollies of bullets in the air, which caught the protestes by surprise and caused them to freeze in their place. Some laid down on the ground, while other stood up and shouted at the guards in Hebrew calling on them to stop shooting. In response, the guards took aim, and started shooting directly towrds people.
When the protesters realized they are acctually being shot at, they started running away, which did not bring the guards to stop shooting. As the bullets riddled the ground, one demonstrator, a 47 year-old construction worker from the village of Budrus was hit with a shrapnell in his left eyebrow.
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June 4, 2011
9:31 am
A quarry for the benefit of Israel and Israelis operating in Occupied Palestinian Territory to the detriment of people under occupation who are supposed to be protected persons under IHL… is this not a case for international justice… maybe the French President, in his peace plan idea, has an answer to this.. Maybe the US President has a response to this blatant plundering and taking of war booty!!!
June 4, 2011
2:31 pm
Yet another great advert for CAT. Supplying weapons of land destruction to racist apartheid regimes!
June 4, 2011
2:53 pm
so security guard (one that is) tells angry mob of protesters to back off and they don’t? then he uses non-lethal force? oh the humanity!
dana, i’ve seen your definition of peaceful protesting. lobbing rocks and assaulting peace officers is your definition of “unarmed” protesters.”
enough protesting. give peace a chance, if you can try.
June 4, 2011
9:18 pm
I think that Abban Aziz is working for the Israeli government or some extreme right wing organization. These demonstrators are clearly unarmed and while I can’t see any rocks being thrown in the video, even a couple of rocks does not justify opening fire on these people.
It was wrong when Egyptian forces opened fire on protesters who threw stones and it is wrong here. The moderators of this page should think hard about banning someone like Abban Aziz who just wants to spout hate and attack the writer for exposing Israeli violations.
June 4, 2011
11:05 pm
heh, yes i work for the israeli gov. you caught me.
XD
June 5, 2011
2:38 pm
David, what is wrong about a one state solution?
June 5, 2011
3:09 pm
DirectRob, besides the principle by and for which Israel was created, you can’t be that blind: take a map, go through the countries around Israel, and tell us why you think a 1-state is indeed an option.
June 5, 2011
6:53 pm
” what is wrong about a one state solution?”
because it isn’t a solution and denies jews right to self-determination.
unless your one state solution is the whole middle east becomes under israel authority, with equal rights for all. then yeah, i support it.
June 6, 2011
6:50 pm
This commenter has been banned from this channel