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Hamas security forces clash with Gaza power cut protestors
Hamas security forces broke up a large protest in the Gaza Strip yesterday, as thousands of people showed rare public dissent over recent power cuts.
Yesterday’s demonstration began in the Jabaliya refugee camp and apparently grew in size as the crowd marched towards a nearby electricity distribution centre. The New York Times reports that around 10,000 protestors joined the march.
Media reports say that the crowd were chanting “raise your voice, electricity cuts mean death”. Gaza residents have typically been restricted to just three or four hours of electricity each day in recent weeks, coinciding with seasonally cold weather.
Hamas security forces moved in and disrupted the protest. According to Deutsche Welle, Hamas security forces fired live ammunition into the air and hit protestors with batons.
Hamas’s police spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Ayman Al-Batniji, said that forces were stopping the crowd from “attacking the power company”. The Twitter account of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction said that several protestors were injured by live fire.
An AFP photographer has claimed that a Hamas policeman hit him in the face with his gun for refusing to hand over his camera, while an AP journalist was arrested and forced to hand over his mobile phones. The Foreign Press Association released a statement condemning the “violent behaviour in the strongest terms” and issued a complaint to the Gaza Interior Ministry.
Yesterday’s protest was a rare public show of dissatisfaction with Hamas’ rule. Hamas seized power by violently overthrowing the then rulers of Gaza, Fatah, in 2007 and relations between the two have been bitter ever since. The New York Times says that a tax dispute between Hamas and the PA is partly to blame for the current electricity crisis.
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai yesterday blamed Hamas for the situation. He told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency that Hamas leaders enjoy electricity 24 hours a day yet Gaza residents have electricity for just three hours daily.