A number of Palestinians were injured and others arrested on Friday afternoon when the Israeli police violently quelled a peaceful demonstration against the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar village east of Jerusalem.
The PIC reporter said that at least 15 Palestinians were injured when the Israeli police attacked the demonstrators with teargas canisters and sprayed them with pepper.
Dozens of Palestinian citizens performed Friday prayer at the sit-in tent set up in Khan al-Ahmar to protest the demolition order.
The Israeli police in the early morning hours threw a cordon and installed several checkpoints around Khan al-Ahmar to prevent Palestinian citizens activists and press crews from reaching the Bedouin community.
Palestinians have been protesting in Khan al-Ahmar for 122 days now against an Israeli plan to demolish the village and forcibly transfer its residents to another area that lacks basic services.
Israel’s Supreme Court in May ruled for demolishing the Bedouin village which is inhabited by 190 Palestinians.
Khan al-Ahmar is one of 45 villages threatened with demolition in favor of a settlement project called E1. The project is aimed at creating a physical link between Ma’ale Adumim settlement and Jerusalem and that would effectively complete a crescent of Israeli settlements around East Jerusalem dividing it from the rest of the West Bank.
