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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Gaza: Fatah supporters scuffle with Hamas men |
| 2007-08-25 |
| Hamas security men scuffled with rowdy Fatah supporters, fired in the air and briefly detained journalists at a protest against the Islamic group's rule in the Strip. Hamas gunmen fired over the heads of hundreds of demonstrators who gathered after Friday prayers organized by the rival Fatah movement. The protesters converged on a former Fatah compound in Gaza City now occupied by Hamas, chanting pro-Fatah slogans, throwing stones and empty bottles and waving yellow Fatah flags. It was the second time in recent weeks that Hamas men have clashed violently with Fatah protesters - and could signal possible cracks in Hamas's two-month-old ironclad rule of Gaza. Harassment of journalists and political opponents appears to be on the rise. When several Hamas security men roughed up a Reuters TV cameraman filming the protest and tried to confiscate his camera, protesters surrounded the Hamas men, beat them to the ground and prevented the cameraman's arrest. The demonstrators cursed the Hamas men, calling them "Shiites" - a derogatory allusion to Hamas' alliance with the hardline Shiite Muslim regime in Iran. The Hamas men also detained a photographer working for Agence France Press and a cameraman for the Russian TV channel Russia Today, along with two other reporters working for local news outlets. They also broke a TV camera belonging to the Arabic-language TV network al-Arabiya. All four detained journalists were released after being held briefly, Hamas officials and witnesses said. A Hamas militia spokesman, Saber Khalifa, said no protesters were injured. He had no comment on the reporters' arrest. The Islamic militant group claims it is willing to tolerate dissent but has cracked down on the remnants of Fatah in Gaza, including breaking up private parties earlier this month where people were singing pro-Fatah songs. At a protest in mid-August, Hamas security men clubbed Fatah protesters, seized the cameras of journalists covering the event and raided media offices to prevent news footage from getting out. Hamas has closed down all opposition media and banned protests that lack official permission. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 fired in the air and briefly detained journalists Is this written out somewhere in a secret Palestinian instruction manual or does a predisposition for gunsex and kidnapping journos go deeper down to some sort of genetic level? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-08-25 11:59 |