Marching and Chanting Met with Beating and Arrests

There is a weekly demonstration in Hebron calling for the opening of Shohada Street, a street the center of Hebron that Palestinians are prohibited from walking or driving on. I participated in this demo for the last several weeks (but not this week as I am now back in At-Tuwani), but the level of violence was not as extreme as you see this week. You can see several CPTers (with red hats) in the thick of things. Certainly the most disturbing thing is the soldier who is dropping 'bows on crowds of people. You see him clubbing people with his elbow in the beginning and also later when things get a bit more chaotic.

Here is Joseph Dana's description of the protest:

After some chanting and speeches against the occupation and settlements and for freedom of movement in Hebron, the protesters headed towards one of the old city allies, blocked by Israeli soldiers. The soldiers violently attacked the demonstration and in the commotion that erupted have managed to grab into arrest 4 internationals and one Israeli protester. Due to the Israeli army’s determination to end the demo, the protesters sat on the ground in front of the soldiers, continuing the demo while sitting. After a while the demo was declared over and participants started going away from the soldiers, who kept going after the retrieting crowd. At a certain point one of the soldiers threw out a sound bomb.

And tell me, how are Palestinians supposed to respond? Nonviolent resistance, marching, and chanting are met with beatings, arrests and tear gas. Israeli is boxing itself into a corner. This apartheid state will fall.