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Preston MP hurt in tear-gassing
Mark Hendrick in Kufr Qaddoum
Preston MP Mark Hendrick has narrowly avoided being caught up in a tear-gassing in the Middle East.
Mr Hendrick was part of a delegation of MPs visiting Kufr Qaddoum, near Palestinian-city Qalqilya in the West Bank.
The roads to the town have been blocked by the Israeli government and the MPs wanted to find out about the impact on locals.
When the MPs arrived skunk spray and CS gas had been sprayed at people demonstrating.
Mr Hendrick today told how his clothes were left smelling from the spray and his eyes, nose and throat were left stinging.
He described the experience as “awful”.
Mr Hendrick said the Israeli defence force had marched into the village and used the spray on protestors.
He said: “They had sprayed it before we arrived but the smell lingers for hours.
“We did speak to the village leaders and really wanted to talk about the impact the blockage of the road is having on the local economy.
“It is pretty awful the way they are being treated.”
Mr Hendrick said the skunk spray “smelt like sewers”.
Mr Hendrick said some of the 100 people who were protesting in the streets were taken to hospital as a result of the tear-gassing but none of the MPs on the trip needed medical attention.
Mr Hendrick added: “I have been to demonstrations in Britain but to have CS gas fired is a very different experience.”
Kate Meekings, from the Council for the Advancement Of Arab British Understanding (CAABU), who organised the trip, said: “We turned up at the aftermath of a protest.
“We didn’t get tear-gassed ourselves but there was a lot of it in the air.”
Mr Hendrick was one of four British MPs on a four day trip to the West Bank. The MPs stayed in east Jerusalem and took various trips to the West Bank.
The visit was Mr Hendrick’s third trip to the West Bank over the last 10 years.
A spokesman for CAABU said: “The West Bank is part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“Kufr Qaddoum is a small village in the Qalqilya governorate of the West Bank, which has been particularly badly affected by the Wall.
“The demonstrations there take place every week in protest at the nearby Israeli settlement and the closure of their main route to Nablus by the IDF, which means they have to take a much longer route around.”
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Weather for Preston
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North west
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