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A Palestinian school girl walks by burning tires set alight during a protest by unpaid policemen in Gaza City Saturday. (AP)
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| By Associated Press September 5, 2006 |
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More than 5,000 angry Palestinian security officers marched through the streets of Gaza City, firing in the air, throwing rocks at the parliament building and shutting down the center of the city in the most intense outburst of anger at the Hamas-led government since widespread strikes began three days ago.
The security officers' protest demanding that the Hamas-led government pay them their long overdue wages led to fears that the labor unrest could spiral into violence across the already chaotic Gaza Strip.
The protest had been banned Monday by President Mahmoud Abbas, who said security officers did not have the right to hold marches against the government.
However, thousands of armed police began gathering in the streets of Gaza City on Tuesday morning in preparation for the protest.
Shops along the protest route throughout downtown were shuttered and closed, some in solidarity and others fearing violence. The protesting officer waved banners, fired in the air and called for the government to resign if it could not pay their salaries.
"We want our salaries, we don't want pity," one banner read.
Several men threw rocks at the Palestinian parliament building, but nobody was injured. Organizers bullied the rock throwers into leaving.
The Palestinian Authority has been in a financial crisis since Hamas won January parliamentary elections. Hamas, which calls for the destruction of Israel, has refused international pressure to renounce violence and recognize the Jewish state. In response, Western donors cut off all aid to the Palestinian government.
Without the aid, the government has been unable to pay salaries to its 165,000 workers, giving them only irregular partial payments instead. Abbas' Fatah Party has been calling for Hamas to moderate its positions and form a national unity government to get the aid restored. Fatah, which controls many of the unions, has openly supported the strikes.
Tens of thousands of teachers and other civil servants began a strike Saturday, shutting down schools. The strike was strongly observed in the West Bank, where hospitals and schools were shut down, but support for it was lukewarm in Gaza, a Hamas stronghold.
But anger seemed to be growing in Gaza as well. On Tuesday, health workers in the coastal strip held a two hour strike, warning they would stop work entirely if they were not paid by Saturday.
The security forces protest was intended to send the message to the government that it better pay up or resign.
"We aren't against the government, even if we disagree with it. But for seven months we've suffered without salaries. If the government is not able to carry out its responsibility, it must acknowledge this," Nidal Khader, who helped organize the protest.
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