The site was forcibly evacuated on January 12, when the IDF arrived in the middle of the night, tore down the tents, and also beat and arrested many of the activists.
[citation needed] An Israeli police spokesman said the court allowed for the removal of the protesters even if the tents would stay temporarily.
[5] Responding to the eviction of the site by Israeli police, the UN secretary General Ban Ki-moon, noted that the protestors had been "largely non-violent", adding that the right to stage peaceful protest should be "fully respected".
He said that the message from the activists was that discussion over negotiations and international pressure had failed and that on the ground there should be a shift towards "democratic, resilient, peaceful popular resistance".
[7] The name of the village is inspired by the novel Bab Al-Shams, published in English as Gate of the Sun, by the Lebanese writer Elias Khoury who supported the idea.