Refugees fear Army

Press, 4 October 1982, Page 8

Refugees fear Army

NZPA Beirut Anxiety, is mounting in the Bourj el Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp., in Beirut, residents complaining ■' of hundreds of arrests and daily searches i since the Lebanese? Army deployed around the camp after the killing of Palestinians in the .7 neighbouring Shatila and Sabra; camps: Although the refugees appealed for Lebanese Army protection .after the massacre two weeks ago in the other ’two southern Beirut settlements, residents of the .30.000 ■ strong Bourj el Barajneh camp allege that the,i;Army and the- police have arrested over 600 men in (their-camp. The same

figure has been quoted in the. Lebanese press. Most of the detainees, who .were taken for identity ’ checks around a week agb to the Army co-operative in Badaro, on the eastern fringe of the capital, are still under arrest, - No reason has been given for their detention despite requests -from the International Committee of the Red Cross, and only a few dozen have so far been released. A delegation of mothers from the camp who yesterday asked the Lebanese Army for news on the prisoners was told that “an inquiry is under way." Relatives of the prisoners say that the arrests were

made without a warrant and ; concerned even men who had the proper identity papers. According to witnesses in the camps, Lebanese soldiers combing the area in search of arms have often acted with extreme brutality - although residents had spontaneously gathered up and delivered arms to the soldiers. When the residents had complained of ill-treatment the soldiers had begun mass arrests, the witnesses said. JBut many Palestinian refugees believe that the behaviour of. Lebanese troops in the camp is part of a move to intimidate the Palestinians into moving out of Beirut.