Gaza protesters hurl acid at police

[newyorican]

GAZA — Jewish protestors on Thursday hurled acid at police attempting to evict them from a Gaza Strip synagogue, in the most violent confrontations since Israel began its historic pullout from the territory.

The incident in the isolated settlement of Kfar Darom, which wounded two dozen police, came as Israel pressed on for a second day to remove remaining settlers and protestors who have refused to obey orders to quit Gaza for ever.

-snip-

Medical sources said that 45 people, including 27 police, were wounded during Thursday's operations. Some 100 radical Jews were arrested after the Kfar Darom clashes.

Some officers were seen leaving the synagogue in only their underwear and were seen washing themselves down with water after they were sprayed with the liquid.

A young woman clutching her child was among those who were herded out of the synagogue, whose foundation stone was ironically laid by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the settlers' one-time champion now turned foe.

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[Sal Minella]

1. NPR this morning said it was paint thinner, not acid

Not at all pleasant, but at least not corrosive. I'm hoping somebody will explain to me why Sharon had a policy of letting those settlers/squatters build homes where they did.....

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[Scurrilous]

3. Police identify liquid thrown on forces in Kfar Darom as caustic soda

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/615689.html

<snip>

"Police have identified the substance right-wing extremists spilled on evacuating forces during the forceful evacuation of a Gush Katif settlement last week as caustic soda, considered high on a list of hazardous materials.

A judge has extended the remand of those implicated in throwing the liquid on charges of assault with a hazardous substance.

Twenty-seven police officers and 14 Israel Defense Forces soldiers were lightly injured during the forceful evacuation of Kfar Darom last week when protesters who had barricaded themselves on the roof of the synagogue by means of barbed wire, planks of wood and iron bars threw various objects and flammable substances on forces to prevent them from reaching the roof.

Initially, police suspected the hazardous substance to be paint diluted in acid. Security forces who were hit by the substance shouted in pain, their skin reddened and they removed their clothing to let their colleagues spill water on them.

In addition to the caustic soda, protesters also threw watermelons, sand, paint, milk and eggs."