Israeli polices forces violently dispersed a Palestinian protest in the occupied East Jerusalem village of at-Tur on Wednesday, April 29, amid complaints that the authorities’ closure of the village’s main road is a form of “collective punishment” against residents.

Hundreds of Palestinian from the neighborhood on the Mount of Olives, as well as Israeli peace activists, staged a sit-in on at-Tur’s main thoroughfare, Suleiman al-Farsi Street, to protest the Israeli authorities’ decision to block passage in the road with two concrete blocks. The street was closed earlier this week after locals demonstrated against the killing of a 17-year-old boy from the area who was shot dead during a scuffle with a soldier at a nearby checkpoint.

Israeli police forces face demonstrators in at-Tur on Wednesday, April 29. (Photo: Social TV)

Mufid Abu Ghannam, director of a local activist committee, told the Ma’an News Agency that Israeli forces assaulted protesters on Wednesday and fired stun grenades at sit-in participants, injuring two people with shrapnel in their lower extremities. Israeli forces also reportedly detained two Palestinian protesters, Amjad al-Shami and Youssef Khuweis. Abu Ghannam said that even after the protesters had dispersed, Israeli forces continued firing stun grenades at people in the area.