Members of the ruling Hamas movement, on Monday, reportedly assaulted citizens who took part in a rally headed by the Prisoners and ex-prisoners Committee and factions in the Strip, on the 11th anniversary of the Hamas coup against the Palestinian Authority.
The protest called for the end of the division between the two major Palestinian parties, Hamas and Fateh, calling for a national unity.
According to eyewitnesses, at 11:30 in the afternoon, dozens of Hamas members entered the protest area, wearing black shirts, and tried to approach the center of the gathering, despite the participants’ assertion that the movement was patriotic, attacked the platform, broke it, and cracked the speakers.
According to the PNN, the Hamas members attacked the protesters, who included representatives of prisoners, journalists, employees, and representatives of the national action and civil society organizations from all the provinces.
For its part, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) praised the masses that demanded an end of the division and the abolition of punitive measures imposed on the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian Authority (PA).
In a related context, the Democratic Front strongly condemned the attack on the protesters, and demanded security services to bring justice and protect the people and their freedom of expression in accordance with the Basic Law, which affirms freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration.
One week ago, hundreds of Palestinians held a protest in Ramallah, demanding the PA cancel its sanctions against Gaza, describing these measures as punitive measures against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The demonstration was organized by a group called “Movement for Lifting Sanctions Imposed on Gaza”, a large movement of academics, journalists, writers, artists, prisoners, activists and citizens who decided to break the silence towards the measures imposed by the PA on the Gaza Strip since March of 2017, in addition to ending the Palestinian political division and achieving reconciliation.
The PA called on Hamas, on 21/3/2018, to transfer control of the Gaza Strip to Ramallah government saying it was prepared to assume its full responsibilities, there, as tensions between the two factions continue to rise, according to WAFA.
The statement on 21 March, 2018, came a day after PA President Mahmoud Abbas suggested he would cut all budgets allocated to Gaza, estimated to amount to some $100 million, if the PA was not awarded full control of the coastal enclave.
06/15/18 Palestinian Security Breaks Up Ramallah Protest
