On August 24, Fatah supporters staged the largest protest in Gaza since Hamas took over in June.  Thousands of Palestinians gathered in Unknown Soldier Square in Gaza City for noon time prayers.  They were protesting “incitement” against Fatah members in mosques controlled by Hamas. 

After prayers, the protesters marched to Al Sayara, a Hamas security complex formerly controlled by Fatah.  There, members of Hamas’s Executive Force fired their guns into the air to disperse the crowds and clashed with protesters.  Palestinian Authority television claims that seventeen demonstrators were injured.  However, Hamas denied that any injuries occurred.

During the protest, members of the Executive Force arrested four journalists covering the event.  While the journalists were quickly released, the Executive force broke a TV camera belonging to Al Arabiya’s cameraman and other reporters claimed to have been “roughed up”.  In addition to the four arrests, the Executive Force attempted to arrest two others but were prevented from doing so by the demonstrators.

Two days later, on August 26, a hundred journalists staged their own protest at the journalists’ union building in Gaza.  They carried banners which read, “Yes to freedom of the press!  No to journalists arrests!  Keep journalists out of politics!”  They were protesting not only the earlier arrests but also Hamas’s policies against journalists covering pro-Fatah events and the confiscation of equipment.

For more information please see:
London Times:  “Journalists protests Hamas pressure”  27 August 2007. 

Middle East Times:  “Gaza journalists sit-in for press freedom”  26 August 2007. 

New York Times:  “Protest broken up by armed Hamas force”  25 August 2007. 

Al Jazeera:  “Rivals battle at Gaza protest”  24 August 2007. 

BBC:  “Hamas opens fire at Fatah rally”  24 August 2007. 

Ma’an News Agency:  “Thousands of Fatah supporters demonstrate in Gaza”  24 August 2007.