PA daily: Protestors who clashed with police in Ramallah claim right to free expression was violated
“Many young men and women as well as security officers suffered numerous injuries, and one person’s hand was broken, during scuffles that began again yesterday afternoon between youth activists who work in social networks, and police and security personnel who intervened to prevent protesters from reaching the Mukata building in Ramallah where the presidential offices are located.
The police released three journalists and activists after the national forces intervened, not long after they had been detained at the police station…
This came as part of a series of demonstrations protesting the visit of Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz that was to take place yesterday in the Mukata so that [Mofaz] could meet President Mahmoud Abbas, but the President decided to cancel on Friday...
Activists tried to reach the Mukata building… and the police interceded and moved them back to the square where shouting and arguments developed into confrontations. Reporters covering the march said that men in civilian dress asked them not to photograph, and took three of them into custody when they refused. All the same, they said that they were not attacked either physically or verbally...
Official spokesman of the security forces Adnan Al-Damiri stated in reaction to yesterday’s incidents that freedom of expression is guaranteed by law, and President Mahmoud Abbas stresses this at every opportunity. He noted that the young people’s march yesterday received all due consideration and its organizers were permitted to choose the place freely. Al-Damiri assumed that a few organizers’ insistence on reaching the President’s offices without having notified the police was the reason for the confrontations..."
The police released three journalists and activists after the national forces intervened, not long after they had been detained at the police station…
This came as part of a series of demonstrations protesting the visit of Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz that was to take place yesterday in the Mukata so that [Mofaz] could meet President Mahmoud Abbas, but the President decided to cancel on Friday...
Activists tried to reach the Mukata building… and the police interceded and moved them back to the square where shouting and arguments developed into confrontations. Reporters covering the march said that men in civilian dress asked them not to photograph, and took three of them into custody when they refused. All the same, they said that they were not attacked either physically or verbally...
Official spokesman of the security forces Adnan Al-Damiri stated in reaction to yesterday’s incidents that freedom of expression is guaranteed by law, and President Mahmoud Abbas stresses this at every opportunity. He noted that the young people’s march yesterday received all due consideration and its organizers were permitted to choose the place freely. Al-Damiri assumed that a few organizers’ insistence on reaching the President’s offices without having notified the police was the reason for the confrontations..."