Injured Demonstrator in Ni'ilin. Picture Credit: Saaed Amireh

The weekly demonstration against the separation wall in the village of Ni'ilin began as normal this afternoon. Over one hundred Palestinians with Israeli supporters marched from the village center after midday prayers to the space of the separation wall. Under the banner of Muslim and Christian unity among Palestinians, villagers chanted in front of soldiers on the other side of the wall. Soldiers responded by using tear gas projectiles as large bullets and firing them directly at protesters. One demonstrator was hit directly in the head from a tear gas canister. He was evacuated from the scene with minor wounds.

Soldiers attempted to enter the village from the extreme western portion of the wall after approximately one hour. Usually soldiers use the main gate in the separation wall itself but today they attempted to sneak up on protesters in order to arrest them. However, clashes broke out and soldiers were forced to retreat because of stones from local youth.

The army escalated the violence against the demonstrators with the use of rubber coated steel bullets and entered the village a second time. Clashes lasted for hours as soldiers repellently fired tear gas projectiles at demonstrators in clear violation of the army's own code of conduct. No major injuries were reported other than severe tear gas inhalation among a group of demonstrators.