At least 40 people were wounded Tuesday morning when residents of the Druze village of Peki'in in northern Israel clashed with police over a vandalized cellular phone antenna. According to Haaretz, a total of 27 police officers were among the wounded.
Police said that one civilian and one policemen sustained serious wounds in the clashes. Three of the locals were injured by live ammunition used by police during the incident.
Druze leaders and Arab MPs have called to set up a committee to investigate the incident. According to the newspaper, the clashes broke out early Tuesday morning when policemen entered the village to arrest a number of local residents suspected of torching the antenna two days ago.
On his part, Peki'in's mayor, Hamed Kheir, said residents were furious about a cellular antenna installed on top of a chicken coop in New Peki'in, a nearby Jewish settlement. "The problem is the antenna. For a month we've been talking with the antenna's owner to get him to take it down, because in Peki'in there are more than 100 cancer patients," Kheir told Israel's Army Radio. Over the weekend, young people from his town destroyed the antenna, he said.
The mayor conveyed that 200 policemen had entered the village. He said the figure was too high, and that the police should have coordinated their arrival with him beforehand.
