Open Shuhada Street Action in Hebron

Here is a short summary of today’s protest in Hebron, longer first person account to follow!

This afternoon about 300 Palestinian, Israeli, and International activists met at the Hebron municipality where they made posters, distributed t-shirts and hats, and spoke with media personnel before they began the march towards Shuhada Street in Hebron. The protesters marched in the rain waving flags, linking arms, and chanting slogans in Arabic, Hebrew, and English. The protesters remained true to their commitment to nonviolence, yet they were met by a very heavy army presence which was quick to deploy harsh crowd dispersal techniques that included a heavy amount of tear gas and stunt grenades. The tear gas canisters were fired from all directions, often coming very close to hitting people. A few elderly protesters fainted and were evacuated by ambulance. Protestors scattered and ran to avoid the tear gas, but the army appeared to be surrounding the protest and shooting from all angles. The army continually tried to push the protesters further back by creating a human wall and physically pushing the protesters who, in response, formed their own wall to withstand the pressure.  Three Israelis were picked out the crowd at random, taken away by the police and detained temporarily. One international activist was arrested and then released several hours later. The clashes between the military, police, protesters, and a few notorious settlers continued for about an hour and 45 minutes until a final barrage of tear gas caused everyone to retreat.

Here is a short video clip of the event.

Protest in Hebron February 25, 2010 from Open Shuhada Street on Vimeo.

Thank you all for your courage and support.