Hamas Condemned After a Violent Crackdown on Protests in Gaza
Joseph Hincks
During Mid-March demonstrations against abject living conditions in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-led government cracked down on residents of the 140-sq.-mi. enclave, prompting condemnation from human-rights organizations. As cell-phone footage circulated online showing security forces clubbing protesters, a U.N. envoy said March 17 that Gaza’s “long-suffering people†should have the right to express economic grievances without fear of reprisal.
“WE WANT TO LIVEâ€
The Islamist group Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, when it fought a brief civil war against the secular Fatah party. In the past, protests over living conditions and human rights have targeted the West Bank–based Fatah–which says Hamas beat up its spokesman in the March clashes–and Israel, whose 12-year air, land and sea blockade has strangled the Gazan economy. (Israel blames Gaza’s poverty on Hamas’ corruption and mismanagement.) The sustained “We want to live†protests, which began March 14, marked a rare challenge to Hamas leaders.
Read more at: http://time.com/5555736/hamas-violent-protest-crackdown-condemnation/
Hamas targets more than 70 journalists in anti-protest measures
Khaled Abu Toameh
More than 70 Palestinian journalists have been targeted by Hamas during the recent protests against economic hardship in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said on Thursday.
Mohammed Al-Lahham, as senior official with the syndicate, said during a press conference in Ramallah that Hamas’s actions were tantamount to “crimes.†He said he believed that the number of journalists who were arrested, beaten or summoned for interrogation by Hamas security forces in the past week was much higher than the figures published thus far.
Several Palestinian journalists who fell victim to Hamas’s tough security measures have refused to have their names published by the Ramallah-based syndicate out of fear of being punished by Hamas, the official revealed.
Read more at: https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Hamas-targets-more-than-70-journalists-584183
So, they are supposedly, severely cracking down on demonstrators there, maybe even firing on them.
