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Arrests, suppression and assault…funeral of Martyr Shireen Abu Akleh

May 13, 2022

On Friday, the occupation forces suppressed the funeral of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, inside the French hospital in Jerusalem, and assaulted the body and mourners several times, injuring and arresting dozens of them.

Inside the French Hospital in Jerusalem, since noon, hundreds of Palestinians gathered, to participate in the funeral of Abu Akleh, and performed Friday prayers in its courtyards, and the absent prayers for the martyrs, after which they chanted for Shireen, and the prayer was held with gospel hymns, in a scene that reflects Palestinian Islamic and Christianity unity in Jerusalem.

Hundreds gathered, waiting for the body of the martyr, Shireen Abu Akleh, and refused to transport the body in the car of the dead, and insisted on carrying it on the shoulders and chanted "On foot in the path of pain", during which the forces surrounded the entrances to the hospital in large numbers and the surrounding streets. Upon the arrival of mourners carrying the coffin on their shoulders to the hospital door, before they went out to the streets of the city, the occupation forces intercepted them, then stormed the hospital and assaulted the mourners with beatings and shoving, and they threw sound bombs and rubber bullets to force them to leave the coffin, but they stuck to it despite what they were exposed to.

During the deployment of the occupation forces in the hospital courtyard and around the place of the corpse, the young men put the corpse inside the dead car vehicle, to be beaten again by the forces in order to keep them away from the vehicle. The young men were beaten again and were forced to get out of it, then the police determined the path of the car and Calvary units and a police car followed them.

The forces closed the hospital perimeter and attacked the mourners several times - after the body was transported - in a second attempt to prevent access to the church and burial, and arrested several young men.

In the areas of New Gate and Jaffa Gate and around Damascus Gate, the forces assaulted the Palestinians by beating, arresting and pushing them, while they were trying to reach the church. The forces also deployed at the gates of the Old City, placed iron barriers and prevented entry to it.

After the funeral ended, a march started from the cemetery, and upon its arrival in Omar ibn Al-Khattab Square, the occupation forces assaulted the participants several times to disperse them and prevent their gathering.

The Red Crescent said that its crews dealt with 33 wounded, 6 of whom were taken to hospital for treatment.

The lawyers for Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem, Muhammad Mahmoud and Firas Jabrini, explained that separate arrests took place from the streets of Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and the Old City, during the funeral of the martyr Shireen Abu Akleh.

They added that 14 people were arrested. They are: Mahmoud Dibeh, Malik Al-Shalabi, Nawar Mitwali, Tawfiq Rafidi, Mahmoud Fteiha, Muhammad Obaid, Wissam Bseisu, Mohammad Abu Khdeir, Charlie Saleh, Abdel Nasser Shaheen, Fayez Najib, Muhannad Shalalda, Ammar Al-Natsheh, Abdel Al-Fattah Sadaqah, and Muhammad Abu Al-Hummus.