4 December 2009
A 20-year-old Palestinian protestor was moderately injured from a bullet fired by the security forces during a rally against the separation fence in the West Bank village of Naalin, Palestinian sources reported Friday.
An Israel Defense Forces official said the man was lightly wounded after being hit in the lower part of his body by a bullet fired from a Ruger rifle, which is used as a crowd dispersal mean. One of the protesters, Yonatan Polk, said he was standing next to the demonstrator that was shot.
“The guy was standing between 50 and 70 meters away from the soldiers, with two barbed-wire fences between them,” he said.
“Both he and the soldiers were standing behind cement blocks, meaning any arguments of their lives being in danger are far from reality. He was hit by a live bullet near his crotch. It’s a policy of using these means in order to create tension and nothing more,” he added.
Dozens of Palestinians, left-wing activists and foreigners took part in the weekly anti-fence demonstrations in the villages of Bilin and Naalin. Some 150 people protested in Naalin and about 80 in Bilin.
According to the IDF, the protestors rioted and hurled stones at the security forces, who responded with tear gas and crowd dispersal means.
Later Friday, the IDF reported that two Molotov cocktails were hurled at Border Guard vehicles in Naalin. There were no reports of damage or injury.
Efrat Weiss, Roee Nahmias and Anat Shalev contributed to this report