US condemns Israel troops' attack on Palestine Journo's funeral
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AP.
Washington: After the unsettling scenes at the funeral procession of the Palestine American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh on Friday, the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement condemning Israeli Police brutality, The Guardian reported.
The statement on Twitter said that they are deeply troubled by the images of Israeli Police intruding into the funeral procession. Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner, it said.
We were deeply troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession of Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh. Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 13, 2022
During the procession, Police came storming in at the gates of St Joseph's Hospital. A Palestinian crowd were gathered around the coffin, and some were waving Palestinian flags, which was banned by the Israeli government. The crowd were also chanting the Palestinian national anthem while some of them sang, "with our soul and blood, we will redeem you, Shireen".
The Police stormed inside the hospital yard in an attempt to stop the funeral procession from proceeding by foot. Police attacked the crowd and even beat the pallbearers with batons.
The pallbearers got pushed around, backed towards a wall and at one instance, the coffin nearly dropped while stun grenades detonated.
Israel forces appeared after people bypassed roadblocks in occupied East Jerusalem to attend Shireen's, the Al Jazeera reporter's, funeral procession. Forces targeted the crowd, accusing them of disturbing public order.
Abu Aqleh died after being shot in the head in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday morning. Her colleagues have since said that she was killed in a burst of gunfire from Israeli forces on a small group of journalists covering an expected raid by Israel's military.
Shireen died of being shot in the head on Wednesday morning. She was there to cover a raid by the Israeli forces, and her colleagues informed her that she was killed in violent gunfire by the Israeli troops. However, the Israeli military issued condolences and maintained that they were only returning to the spot, and Shireen could have been hit by Palestinian firing. But, as per video footage, she was wearing a helmet and body armour when she was killed.