Thousands Mark Land Day at Beaufort Castle Amid Heavy Security
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
More than 3,000 Lebanese, Palestinian and foreign demonstrators marched to the Beaufort Castle in Nabatiyeh on Friday to mark Land Day, an annual protest against discriminatory Israeli land policies.
Waving Palestinian flags and singing Palestinian national songs, the protestors performed the traditional dabke dance as security forces kept them from moving beyond the Crusader-built castle that lies 15 kilometers from the Israeli border.
The protestors also attended together noon prayers.
The Lebanese army and security forces took strong measures to prevent the protest from spiraling out of control. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon also carried out patrols and monitored any suspicious activity from its bases near the border with Israel.
Al-Joumhouria newspaper had quoted high-ranking Palestinian sources as saying that the mainstream Fatah movement put at the disposal of Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sidon, Tyre and Beirut around 50 buses.
As for the Islamic Jihad and Hizbullah, they have respectively put 30 and 40 buses at the disposal of protestors, they said.
Similar protests were held in the West Bank and Gaza. While organizers said the events would be nonviolent, Israel's army and police were girding for trouble after similar demonstrations last year turned deadly.
At least 15 people were killed in clashes with Israeli troops in May 2010 when the protestors tried to cross the Syrian and Lebanese borders with Israel during a Nakba Day rally marking Palestinian sorrow over the Jewish state's creation in 1948.
In June that year, Israeli troops also killed 23 demonstrators who crossed into the no-man's land between Israel and Syria in a demonstration against Israeli control of the Golan Heights.
Israeli forces raised their alert level on Thursday ahead of the protests.
The Northern and Southern Commands have deployed extra forces along the borders with Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip together with riot gear to prevent border infiltrations.
The troops have been briefed on rules of engagement and ordered to act with restraint but to protect the border and not to allow demonstrators to cross it, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
30 March 2012, 11:23
13
Don't these idiots have anything better to do...? Unless they are getting some financial incentives or "hash" baked cookies from the local mullahs...
30 March 2012, 15:21
01
I concur with all the above comments posted before 12 noon on Friday March 30. Anyway, who are the 'foreigners' and how do they breakdown between country of origin? It would be interesting to know.
30 March 2012, 18:31
02
As for the Islamic Jihad and Hizbullah, they have respectively put 30 and 40 buses at the disposal of protestors, they said.
you have to admit it was all so spontaneous:)
30 March 2012, 20:54
03
Thousands? 3 thousand bused and fed and maybe paid because this year they could not find any idiots who were willing to rush the border like some did last year.
Now we know why these people cannot hold a job because every few days there is something to celebrate!
