Gaza (HRNW) Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday to demonstrate against President Mahmoud Abbas, hoping to inject new momentum into a protest movement sparked by the death of an outspoken critic in the custody of security forces.
Palestinian security forces and groups of men in plainclothes violently dispersed a similar protest a week ago, drawing expressions of concern from the US and the UN human rights chief. There were no immediate reports of violence on Saturday.
The Palestinian Authority was established as part of the peace process in the 1990s and governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It has grown increasingly autocratic and unpopular, and Abbas canceled the first elections in 15 years in April when it looked like his fractured Fatah party would lose badly. He was largely sidelined during the Gaza war in May amid an outpouring of support for his rivals, the territory’s militant Hamas rulers.
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