Ramallah – Arabstoday
Students from Birzeit University in Palestine were attacked by Israeli troops during a protest in solidarity with 800 hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian medical sources told Muslim News. According to the newspaper, "soldiers fired dozens of gas bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets at hundreds of students who marched towards the Ofer Israeli Prison, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah." "The students were peacefully marching and chanting slogans against the Israeli occupation, and the ongoing Israeli violations against the Palestinian political prisoners." Student demonstrations were organised to show support for Palestinian prisoners like Samer al-Issawi, who has been on hunger-strike for 211 days. The protests were part of larger demonstrations in the city of Ramallah, where a solidarity tent was set up as around 100 people marched through the city from al-Manara Square. Separate protests also took place in Hebron and Bethlehem.