The weekly demonstration in the village of Nil'in started with a procession towards the route of the fence. Tens of Palestinians, Israelis and international made their way around the newly placed concrete wall, which guards the fence, and reached the fence itself. Some twenty soldiers and border policemen tried o disperse the demonstrators with tear gas and with the latest addition to their arsenal: The Skunk (stench-water shot from a water canon, sticking on to the flesh and cloths for days on end).
After a while several army jeeps crossed the fence, and two separate groups of soldiers chased demonstrators back towards the village. When answered with rock throwing, the soldiers moved to shooting live rounds, and ignored the Hebrew calls directed at them to stop.
Even later, already at the first houses of the village, the shooting of live ammunition led to the injury of two video photographers, a Palestinian and the Israeli artist and activist David Riv. Both were hurt by shrapnel, and needed hospitalization.
The attack on the village and the demonstration ended shortly after this incident.
At the same time in Bil'in, over 25 Israelis and 20 internationals joined local Palestinians in the weekly demonstration against the Israeli annexation and nightly terror campaign in the village (videos of the nightly invasions of the past week can be found here and here ). The demonstration, slightly smaller than usual due to the Holy Month of Ramadan, marched from the village centre to the separation wall with Palestinian flags and signs supporting the struggle of the village Qarawat Bani Zeid for access to the water denied them by the Israeli civil administration. The village youth concentrated between the fence and the road leading to the gate, getting gassed and throwing stones, while the main demo congregated peacefully at the gate. The soldiers refused to obey the villagers' orders to disperse, and so a small unarmed team of demonstrators was sent into the area between the fences to explain to the soldiers that they must stop violating the law and evacuate the premises immediately. Unfortunately, the soldiers responded with tear gas. The demonstrators continued suffering sporadic gas attacks, as did the Al-Jezeera English van parked next to the house adjacent to the gate in the wall. The attack on the Al-jezeera team was aired live, and can be seen here.
After this, the demonstration slowly dwindled away with occasional relatively moderate showers of gas.
The weekly demonstration in Bil'in:
Al-Jazeera reporter attacked with tear gas whle on the air:
