Before the demonstration left the mosque we were already alerted to the presence of many border police well inside the village. The police drove further in than they usually do and placed at least two platoons near the road leading to the gate in the wall. It is impossible to tell what they thought they were trying to achieve but their presence so close to the demonstration was a clear provocation.
Demonstrators dismantling razor wire from in front of the gate in the wall
Apparently, provocation was the order of the day for the border police; As the demonstration reached the wall reports started arriving from
Soldiers trying to arrest demonstrators
Except for the nice weather which brought out larger than usual number of young people from the village, things progressed as the have usually done in the last few weeks. Of course, for the west bank, a typical demonstration includes the shedding of demonstrators' blood. This has become just as ordinary as speeches being made at a demonstration in other parts of the world. Several light injuries were inflicted by clubs and concussion grenades.
An injured Palestinian demonstrator being treated
A good-sized group of Israelis showed up this week, including some new faces. All promised to return for the large demo planned for the 23rd.
Click here to watch a video from the demonstration
