Palestinian Police Open Fire, Prison Protest Turns Bloody One Killed As Crowd Storms Jail To Protest Beating Of Inmates
Yasser Arafat’s security forces opened fire Friday on hundreds of Palestinians who stormed a jail to protest alleged mistreatment of inmates, killing one demonstrator and injuring more than a dozen.
Arafat’s Palestinian Authority said several jailed Islamic militants escaped, and called on prisoners to turn themselves in.
Palestinian police clamped a curfew on Tulkarem, and called in reinforcements from neighboring cities to contain the rioting, one of the most serious challenges to Arafat’s rule since the start of Palestinian autonomy two years ago.
The violence followed Thursday’s protests against the Palestinian Authority in the neighboring town of Nablus - sparked by the death of a detainee whom Palestinian security forces had beaten into a coma.
Prison security chief Akram Abu Raja said police opened fire on about 400 protesters, many of them relatives of the inmates, who threw rocks at police outside the Tulkarem jail.
Police gunfire killed Ibrahim Hadaydeh, a protester and former inmate, witnesses said. The Palestinian Authority claimed that gunmen from the Islamic militant group Hamas mingled among the crowd and and opened fire during the storming of the compound. The Palestinian Authority said the gunmen fired the fatal shots.
Many of the inmates were Islamic militants rounded up during a spring crackdown after a series of suicide bombings in Israel. Several were on a hunger strike to press for their release.
One escapee who requested anonymity said guards at the prison left the inmates alone after rioting began, and prisoners were able to walk away.
Violent clashes between the security forces and residents over the past months have led to increased frustration among Palestinians over Arafat’s management of Palestinian autonomy.
“Democracy is missing here completely, there is no freedom … they rule us by force,” said a 24 year-old Tulkarem man who identified himself only as Ahmed.