Mideast - AFP
More than 35 wounded in protest against Israel's West Bank barrier
Date: Sun, Mar 21, 2004
KHARBATHA, West Bank (AFP) - More than 35 people, including an Israeli rights activist, were wounded during a protest against Israel's West Bank separation barrier, witnesses and Palestinian medical sources said.
Medical sources at Sheikh Zayid hospital in the West Bank town of Ramallah said all 37 wounded demonstrators were hit by rubber bullets, with five of them sustaining head wounds.
The wounded included Israeli activist Itai Lavinsky who was shot in the head while demonstrating against the barrier near the West Bank village of Kharbatha, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) northwest of Jerusalem.
The Israeli rights group Rabbis for Human Rights said Lavinsky was hit in the eye by a bullet and evacuated to Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel Aviv. He was only lightly wounded, a hospital spokeswoman said.
A spokeswoman for the rights group put the overall number of wounded at 42, including a woman and a nine-year-old child, both of whom were hit in the head. At least six people were taken to hospital in the West Bank town of Ramallah, she added.
Witnesses said around a thousand people gathered at 6:00 am (0400 GMT) at a spot where the barrier is still in the initial stages of construction to protest against the confiscation of Palestinian land.
As Israeli bulldozers pulled up to begin work, the protestors sat down to prevent them from clearing the land, they said.
Troops then fired tear-gas canisters to break up the demonstration, and started beating some of those present. Shortly afterwards, they fired rubber bullets into the crowd, they said.
An army spokesman said the demonstration had started peacefully but after a while protestors "started throwing rocks and stones at the construction workers.
"Troops used non-lethal means to break up the demonstration, firstly tear-gas, but when that didn't work they started firing rubber bullets," before the protest was largely dispersed, he said.
The spokesman was unaware of any injuries during the incident.
SOURCE
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