Nablus/PNN/

Four Palestinian civilians sustained minor injuries today when Israeli occupation forces clamped down on a peaceful protest at the entrance to the village of Luban e-Sharkiya, to the south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

Yaaqoub Eweis, the mayor of the village, said Israeli soldiers assaulted dozens of protesters who were demonstrating against the daily attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers on the village’s students and the restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation forces on students’ access to school.

He said four of the protesters sustained bruises as a result of the Israeli attack, while many others suffocated from tear gas inhalation as Israeli soldiers fired tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters.

Access of Palestinian students to their schools in the village has become an arduous daily journey as a result of attacks by Israeli settlers and the army.

Last week, hundreds of students in the village were ultimately unable to access their schools, located at Nablus-Ramallah road near the village, after a group of Israeli settlers performed a provocative dance at the entrance to the village.