Eight people, including five Palestinians, were wounded in clashes with the army in two protests against Israel's construction of a West Bank barrier, Palestinian medics and Israeli security sources said Monday.
One man was moderately wounded when troops fired a tear gas canister into a crowd of some 300 protestors near the West Bank village of Beit Duqqu, just west of the town of Ramallah. Medics said the canister hit him in the eye.
Border police used tear gas and stun grenades to break up the protest after demonstrators, backed by a group of foreign peace activists, tried to prevent excavators from working on the barrier, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
Another four people were lightly wounded during a protest in the nearby village of Beit Liqqiya where several hundred people gathered near the barrier construction site, medics and witnesses said.
One man was lightly wounded after being hit by live fire in the leg and another three were slightly hurt by rubber bullets fired by troops to break up the demo, medics said.
An Israeli military source confirmed that rubber bullets had been used in Beit Liqqiya to break up "a very violent demonstration" in which protestors threw stones at police who were trying to protect the barrier from damage.
Two construction workers and a border policeman were lightly wounded by the stones, she said.
Israel argues it needs the barrier to protect itself from suicide bombers, but Palestinians argue that its route, which often juts deep in their territory, shows it is more akin to a land grab.
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