Shots fired at Guantanamo Bay as violence erupts when guards try to split up detainees on hunger strike
Violence broke out at the detention
center on Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on Saturday when guards at the U.S.
Naval base tried to move prisoners into single-cells in an attempt to
end a 66-day hunger strike.
'Some detainees resisted with improvised weapons, and in response, four less-than-lethal rounds were fired,' Navy Captain Robert Durand, chief public affairs spokesman at Guantanamo, said in a statement.
There were no major injuries after the scuffle that occurred in Camp 6, a medium-security facility that houses between 60 to 100 detainees.
'I know for sure that one detainee
was hit but the injuries were minor, just some bruises,' Army Col. Greg
Julian, a Southern Command spokesman told the Associated Press.
Guards used a modified shotgun shell that fires small rubber pellets as well as type of bean-bag projectile, Julian said.
According to the spokesman, 43 total prisoners have been abstaining from food since Feb. 6 and 11 of those men were being force-fed liquid nutrients through tubes inserted into their noses and down to their stomachs.
Attorneys for the terror detainees allege that guards at the prison camp on the island of Cuba 'desecrated' a Koran, which sparked February's hunger protest and claim that conditions have deteriorated to the 'darkest days under Bush.'
Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees claim that inmates at the high security facility are starving themselves to death, refusing to sleep in their cells and have been engaged for weeks in widespread protests.
The U.S. military has denied mistreating religious text during cell searches.
As part of their campaign, some detainees recently began covering windows and
surveillance cameras so guards could no longer easily see the communal living space shared by the prisoners.
In response, the guards at the center entered the facility on Saturday morning to separate detainees into individual cells.
The clash occurred in Camp 6, which the military converted to a mostly communal section for well-behaved prisoners, giving them access to satellite television, language and other classes and round-the-clock recreation time to make Guantanamo conform to international standards for a prisoner-of-war camp.
'Round-the-clock monitoring is necessary to ensure security, order, and safety as detainees continued a prolonged hunger strike by refusing regular camp-provided meals,' the Naval spokesman said.
In March, the military
confirmed that a guard at the U.S. owned facility fired a 'non-lethal'
plastic bullet round to disperse prisoners in a January incident,
hitting an inmate - after one of them tried to climb a fence and others
threw rocks at one guard tower.
While no one was reported to be injured in the January 2 incident, it was the first time that rubber bullets have been fired in the 11-year-history of holding terror inmates at the controversial facility.
'After a detainee attempted to climb the fence', on the facilities new $744,000 soccer field and a 'small crowd of detainees began throwing rocks at the guard tower,' Captain Durand explained in March.
'After repeated warnings were ignored, the guard force was forced to employ appropriate crowd-dispersal measures, in accordance with standard operating procedures,' Durand continued.
Durand confirmed that a 'non-lethal round', was used and 'hit a detainee.'
The Obama administration made it a policy pledge to shut the prison camp at the U.S. military base on his first full day in office in January 2009.
However, since then he has been blocked by Congress from doing so and the 166 inmates there have been left in legal limbo, despite the president ruling out sending any more terror suspects to Guantanamo.
'Some detainees resisted with improvised weapons, and in response, four less-than-lethal rounds were fired,' Navy Captain Robert Durand, chief public affairs spokesman at Guantanamo, said in a statement.
There were no major injuries after the scuffle that occurred in Camp 6, a medium-security facility that houses between 60 to 100 detainees.
Outburst: Violence broke out at the detention
center at Guantanamo Bay as guards tried to split up detainees on a
hunger strike (pictured, file photo of prisoners at the detention
center)
Strike: Detainees began their hunger strike on
Feb. 6 in protest of the alleged mistreatment of their Korans by guards
(pictured, a detainee in Camp Delta at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in
2004)
Guards used a modified shotgun shell that fires small rubber pellets as well as type of bean-bag projectile, Julian said.
According to the spokesman, 43 total prisoners have been abstaining from food since Feb. 6 and 11 of those men were being force-fed liquid nutrients through tubes inserted into their noses and down to their stomachs.
Attorneys for the terror detainees allege that guards at the prison camp on the island of Cuba 'desecrated' a Koran, which sparked February's hunger protest and claim that conditions have deteriorated to the 'darkest days under Bush.'
Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees claim that inmates at the high security facility are starving themselves to death, refusing to sleep in their cells and have been engaged for weeks in widespread protests.
The U.S. military has denied mistreating religious text during cell searches.
Protest: Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees
claim that inmates at the high security facility are starving themselves
to death, refusing to sleep in their cells and have been engaged for
weeks in widespread protests
In response, the guards at the center entered the facility on Saturday morning to separate detainees into individual cells.
The clash occurred in Camp 6, which the military converted to a mostly communal section for well-behaved prisoners, giving them access to satellite television, language and other classes and round-the-clock recreation time to make Guantanamo conform to international standards for a prisoner-of-war camp.
'Round-the-clock monitoring is necessary to ensure security, order, and safety as detainees continued a prolonged hunger strike by refusing regular camp-provided meals,' the Naval spokesman said.
Impact: According to the spokesman, 43 total
prisoners were abstaining from food and 11 of those men were being
force-fed liquid nutrients through tubes inserted into their noses and
down to their stomachs
While no one was reported to be injured in the January 2 incident, it was the first time that rubber bullets have been fired in the 11-year-history of holding terror inmates at the controversial facility.
'After a detainee attempted to climb the fence', on the facilities new $744,000 soccer field and a 'small crowd of detainees began throwing rocks at the guard tower,' Captain Durand explained in March.
'After repeated warnings were ignored, the guard force was forced to employ appropriate crowd-dispersal measures, in accordance with standard operating procedures,' Durand continued.
Durand confirmed that a 'non-lethal round', was used and 'hit a detainee.'
The Obama administration made it a policy pledge to shut the prison camp at the U.S. military base on his first full day in office in January 2009.
However, since then he has been blocked by Congress from doing so and the 166 inmates there have been left in legal limbo, despite the president ruling out sending any more terror suspects to Guantanamo.