February 16th
Today Azzoun was again under curfew, after six hours of free movement in the town, Border Police drove in at 11 am and announced that the curfew had been reinstated. Throughout the day two Border Police jeeps roamed the town, throwing sound bombs, shooting live ammunition, and randomly beating people in the streets. One man was beaten in his house, near the gas station, another in the street. As well a 60 year old man and his son were beaten in the street as they tried to get to their house.
Ashraf Mahmoud Shubaita, a twenty two year old marketing student, was assaulted as he tried to drive home at 4pm, he reports that the Border Police took him out of his car, punching and kicking him repeatedly in the face and body. They then put him in the back of the police jeep and drove around beating him with their fists and rifle butts for ten minutes. He was later released back to his car. When he was 50 meters away, the Border Police began to fire at him, he estimates bullets landed about a meter from his feet.
At around 1pm, the Border Police once again raided the apartment of Human Rights Workers (HRWs) in Azzoun, although this time they were not violent and did not ransack the apartment. The Border Police came into the apartment demanding to see the HRWs’ cameras, although they did not confiscate them today.
Although the curfew was lifted today at around 6:30pm, Border Police remain in Azzoun, shooting and throwing sound bombs sporadically.
February 15th
At around 4pm, another curfew was announced in Azzoun. Border police drove through the town ordering people into their homes, shooting live fire and throwing sound bombs. Three HRWs followed orders and returned to their apartment and started to film from their window. After a few minutes they saw, and captured on video, one border police officer pulling a Palestinian man out of his car and assaulting him.
After the officers became aware of the presence of the HRWs filming from their apartment, they began pointing their guns at the HRWs and ordering them to stop filming. A few minutes later the border police began hammering on the door of the apartment with a sledge hammer. Despite the protests of the HRWs that they were trying to open the door, the officers continued trying to open it by force. After a while they gave up trying to open the door and began smashing windows in the vicinity. The officers returned a few minutes later, this time successfully opening the door, without a warrant.
The officers were screaming as they ransacked the apartment and dragged one HRW around by his t-shirt, repeatedly banging his head against a wall. They confiscated their cameras and took the HRWs down to the street. They were forced to wait whilst the officers checked their details in their jeep. After about 20 minutes the officers released the HRWs and continued aggressively enforcing the Azzoun curfew.
