[Ppnews] Support for the Hunger Strikers across Palestine
Political Prisoner News
ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Mon May 14 10:18:20 EDT 2012
<http://samidoun.ca/2012/05/stop-the-wall-support-for-the-hunger-strikers-across-palestine/>Stop
the Wall: Support for the Hunger Strikers across Palestine
by <http://samidoun.ca/?author=1>samidoun
<http://stopthewall.org/2012/05/12/support-hunger-strikers-across-palestine>Stop
the Wall reported on the ongoing massive
solidarity inside Palestine and throughout
Palestine for the hunger strikers, including mass
demonstrations in all major cities. A day of
action is scheduled for this Thursday, May 17,
the one month anniversary of the launch of the
mass open hunger strike, and a protest in
Ramallah at Ofer Prison on Tuesday, May 15 as a
Nakba commemoration/prisoner solidarity action:
Every day the support for the Palestinian hunger
strikers in Israeli jails spreads, creating
national unity in solidarity with their protest.
As groups across Palestine show their support, it
becomes more apparent how pivotal this strike is
in terms of the wider struggle it is becoming a
rallying point, a symbol of national cohesion
reminiscent of the Intifadas. Despite internal
disputes, unity is being displayed by
Palestinians across the country in the face of
Israeli occupation and repression of all shows of
support of the prisoners. Momentum is building on
the back of the âWar of Empty Stomachsâ, a
war being raged to gain the recognition of rights
guaranteed by International Law, but denied by the Israeli occupier.
Yesterday, more than 2000 Palestinian prisoners
entered their 24th day of hunger strike, with
Thaer Halahla and Bilal Diab now the longest ever
hunger strikers on 74 days, while 6 other
prisoners have refused food for in excess of 50
and 60 days. These 8 prisoners are now at serious
risk of death, starving for their right to live.
Demonstrations took place yesterday across the
West Bank, under the slogan âFriday Anger:
Victory for the Prisonersâ, and were met with
violent suppression by the Israeli Occupying
Forces (IOF). Tear gas, rubber coated bullets,
flash-bang grenades and foul smelling water mixed
with harmful chemicals, were used to disperse
protesters, showing their solidarity with their
brothers and sisters in the prisons.
At the demonstration in the village of Aboud,
Ramallah District, a young protestor, Majid Salah
al-Barghouti (18), after having been shot in the
eye had to be evacuated to hospital where his
condition was described as serious.
In the town of Beit Ummar, Hebron District, the
IOF had taken to the roofs in anticipation of the
weekly demonstration after Friday prayers, from
whence they proceeded to bombard the crowd.
Khaldun Jameel Masharqa (20) was hit in the chest
with a smoke bomb, and Hammad Ahmed Abu Maria
(21) was hit in the hand by another. This was
followed by the closure of the entrances of the
town, preventing all from passing.
In Hebron thousands gathered to march the
streets, ending up at a tent in the city center
set up to demonstrate solidarity with the prisoners.
In Nablus there was a demonstration of around
3000 Palestinians condemning the silence of the
International Community concerning the hunger strike.
At Ofer prison, a regular flashpoint with daily
demonstrations, a dozen young men were shot with
rubber coated bullets, with many others suffering
temporary blindness and suffocation having been tear gassed.
In the areas occupied in 1948, more than 10,000
Palestinians participated in a festival of
solidarity with the prisoners in the town of Kafr
Kana, in the Galilee, holding up pictures of the
prisoners and Palestinian flags and slogans
demanding liberation of prisoners from Israeli
jails. In Haifa, Palestinians closed their shops
and displayed banners saying "The shops are
closed because our prisoners are in danger."
In Jerusalem, hundreds of Jerusalemites
participated in a rally including prisonersâ
families as well as actors and representatives of
national institutions. The scene was filled with
Palestinian flags, pro-prisoner and
anti-occupation slogans amid tight security
imposed by the occupation forces, with
significant elements of the police, border guards
and special units in attendance. The protestors
took to the streets, rendezvousing with other
activists before marching on the headquarters of
the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Demonstrations have been taking place daily
across the whole of the occupied territories in
solidarity with the prisoners, and this trend is
likely to continue as the struggle in the prisons goes on.
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/stopthewall/sets/72157629692330544/>http://www.flickr.com/photos/stopthewall/sets/72157629692330544/
<http://samidoun.ca/?author=1>samidoun | May 14,
2012 at 6:52 am URL: <http://wp.me/p2cx3f-k4>http://wp.me/p2cx3f-k4
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20120514/a5d1705c/attachment.htm>
More information about the PPnews
mailing list