Amnesty: Zionists using ‘unlawful’ force in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM: Amnesty International said Zionist entity is using “abusive and wanton force against largely peaceful Palestinian protesters” in east Jerusalem clashes that have wounded hundreds of demonstrators and dozens of police.
The entity yesterday firmly defended the conduct of its officers, insisting they have responded to violent Palestinian rioters with appropriate measures. But the London-based human rights group described some of those measures as “disproportionate and unlawful”, accusing security forces of “unprovoked attacks on peaceful demonstrators”. Amnesty’s statement came amid surging tension in the annexed Jerusalem, much of it concentrated at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site.
At Al-Aqsa and in clashes elsewhere in east Jerusalem, police used stun grenades, rubber bullets, tear gas and skunk water cannons.
Amnesty said the regime has used excessive force over multiple weeks of east Jerusalem protests. In one incident, it said the forces last week broke up a peaceful circle of Palestinians chanting against an attempt to evict them from their homes in the city’s Sheikh Jarrah district. The forces on horseback sprinted toward the crowd, trampling a man who was trying to run away, Amnesty said.
The rights group called on the international community “to hold the Zionist entity accountable for its systemic violations”.
Clashes on Monday left more than 500 Palestinians wounded. The group Save the Children, also based in London, said it was “horrified” by the air strikes and demanded a stop to “the indiscriminate targeting and killing of civilians”.