Ref: 160/2007
Date: 13 November 2007
Time: 13:00 GMT
PCHR Condemns
Excessive and Lethal Use of Force against Civilians in Gaza
PCHR strongly
condemns the excessive use of force by the Palestinian police to disperse the
participants in the Fatah rally in Gaza City yesterday. The Centre condemns the
use of gunfire that resulted in the death of 6 civilians, including a 12-year
old boy, and injury of more than 80 others. The Centre calls upon the
Palestinian government in Gaza to immediately investigate these attacks,
prosecute the perpetrators, and take serious steps to prevent their recurrence.
The Center’s
preliminary investigation and eyewitness accounts indicate that tens of
thousands of participants from all over the Gaza Strip started to arrive in
Qatiba Grounds near Al-Azhar University in Gaza City on the morning of Monday,
12 November 2007. They were arriving to attend the Fatah rally on the 3rd
anniversary of the death of the late President Yasser Arafat. The rally was
scheduled to start at 13:00 Gaza time.
Palestinian
police armed with guns and batons and civilian-clothed gunmen were deployed in
roads leading to the Qatiba Grounds since the early morning hours. Clashes broke
out between the police and rally participants at 11:30 and resulted in the death
of Tariq Mahmoud El-Najjar (29) by a bullet to the chest and right hand. One of
the Center’s staff stated that he witnessed clashes between rally participants
and members of the police in the area. He stated that at about 11:30, a jeep
carrying civilian-clothed gunmen was heading in the direction opposite to
hundreds of people heading to the rally in Jamal Abd El-Naser Street. He added
that the jeep’s presence was provocative and an attempt to “show off” by driving
in the midst of hundreds of rally participants. As the jeep passed, there were
harassments; and the gunmen replied by firing in the air. They made their way
out of the masses into a side street.
After the end of
the rally, violence broke out between rally participants and the police. The
demonstrators threw rocks at the police who responded by indiscriminate gunfire
and raiding the rally grounds. Pictures showed members of the police deployed
around Qatiba grounds firing indiscriminately at the rally participants.
The firing
resulted in the death of 5 people and injury of 80 others in the area around the
Qatiba Grounds. Three of the injuries are serious. There are 9 children and 2
women among the injured. The victims killed are:
1-
Ibrahim Mahmoud Ahmad (12) from
Beit Hanoun; killed by a bullet to the neck.
2-
Mohammad Ahmad El-Masri (67) from
Khan Yunis; killed by a bullet to the head.
3-
Yehia Khaled Abu Samra (19) from
Deir El-Balah; killed by a bullet to the chest.
4-
Kamel Mohammad Zeyara (19) from
Beach Camp; killed by a bullet to the chest.
5-
Husam Bader El-Ewadi (26) from Gaza
City; killed by a bullet to the head.
The police also
chased rally participants and beat them with batons and sticks. In the meantime,
several journalists were attacked, including:
-
Khaled Jamal Bolbol, a photographer
for Zoom Press. He was beaten and his camera was broken and confiscated.
-
Mohammad Sawalha, a photographer
for Abu Dhabi Satellite Station. He was detained and his camera tape was
confiscated.
-
Mowafaq Matar, a journalist for Al-Hayat
Newspaper. He was detained and pictures were erased from his camera.
In a development
of the events, the police fired at demonstrators in the funeral procession of
Yehia Abu Samra near the Deir El-Balah police station. The firing came after
youth shouted insults at the police. Seven people were injured, including three
suffering shrapnel wounds.
In the evening,
the police carried out a large-scale arrests operation against tens of Fatah
activists throughout the Gaza Strip. Others received summoning orders to police
stations today and tomorrow. PCHR’s fieldworkers indicated that the operation
continued throughout the night and into the early morning hours.
PCHR strongly
condemns these attacks, and points to the following observations:
1-
Our staff documented the deployment
of police roadblocks on the main roads in and around Gaza City to prevent the
arrival of Fatah supporters to the rally in Qatiba Grounds in Gaza City.
2-
Our staff documented the heavy
deployment of uniformed police armed with guns and batons and civilian-clothes
security personnel and gunmen in the streets leading to the rally grounds and
around it. This deployment laid the groundwork for violence friction and for the
actions that transpired.
3-
Security authorities have the right
to take security precautions to preserve the civilian lives and property;
however it is not permissible to push hundreds of gunmen and security personnel
in a confrontation with civilians.
4-
The acts of violence that
accompanied the large rally over a large area, including throwing rocks at the
police and security personnel, does not justify the excessive and
disproportionate use of force by the police.
5-
Our staff did not register or find
any member of the police or security who was injured by gunfire, which
contradicts the statements by the police and Hamas.
6-
The duty of the police and security
personnel is to protect participants. And in the case of coming under gunfire,
as claimed by governmental sources in Gaza, indiscriminate, excessive, and
lethal firing by the police at civilian gatherings is not justified.
7-
The government in Gaza seems to be
dealing with demonstrations and peaceful rallies in this typical manner, which
is rejected and condemned by the Centre.
8-
The Centre renews the call to the
dismissed government in Gaza to immediately investigate these attacks,
especially the circumstances of the death of the 6 civilians, and to prosecute
the perpetrators.
9-
The Centre calls upon the dismissed
government in Gaza to take the necessary security and political steps to ensure
that such events do not recur.
10-
The Centre calls for the immediate
release of all persons detained for political reasons, noting that political
detention is illegal in Palestinian law.
