Ref: 18/2022
Date: 23 February 2022
Time: 10:14 GMT
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns abuse and violence practiced by members of Municipal police in Khan Yunis while removing a stall from al-Qal’a Yard area in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip. PCHR emphasizes that the municipality has the right to organize streets as it is one of its duties, but it should maintain a rights-based approach and refrain from dealing with breachers with further breachers by law-enforcement officers.
According to information obtained by PCHR, at approximately 06:00 on Tuesday, 22 February 2022, a pickup truck belonging to Khan Yunis Municipality accompanied with 4 municipality workers and 2 municipal police members arrived at al-Qal’a Yard area, where there are street carts selling hot drinks and mobile phones. The municipal crew pulled a hot drinks street cart towards the municipal truck, as its owner, Ramadan Salah ‘Abdulmutallab Shurrab (25), was arriving. He chased the municipal workers and got into an argument with them and took his cart back and put it where it was. The Municipality’s truck turned around the place and the crews re-confiscated Shurrab’s cart again and uploaded it onto the truck. In the meantime, verbal altercation erupted between the municipality staff and Shurrab, who sprawled in front of the truck to prevent it from moving before the arrival of his brothers Sha’ban (23) and ‘Abed al-Latif (16).
Ramadan Shurrab gave the following statement to PCHR’s fieldworker
“In order to prevent the municipality truck from moving, my brother sprawled between the truck’s wheels, while I got on top of it (a pickup truck where the cart was going to be loaded). This happened amidst arguments with the municipal crews. During which, a police officer took out one of the steel bars used to support the cart and began to prick my brother Sha’ban, who was sprawling below the truck, and beat him several times. He also ordered Sha’ban to get up from under the truck, but my brother insisted to remain there in order to stop the truck. After my brother’s insistence and the argument that continued for about half an hour, I reached an agreement with the Municipal crew that we would take down the cart. When we tried to take it down, it slipped and fell to the ground, as it was heavy and had a gas cylinder inside. It bumped into the street and some glass broke. When my brother saw
what happened, he got up from under the truck and said “Hasbona Allah w Na’m al-Wakil.”[1] That’s when a police officer punched him in the face right under his eye, while the other was waving the steel bar without hitting anyone with it. There were many eyewitnesses filming the scene, and it was widely shared on social media. Afterwards, the police and municipal crews retreated without confiscating the street cart. At approximately 07:30, my brother, Shaban, went to the police station to file a complaint. He was told to come at 08:00, that is when a police patrol arrived at the site and asked me to go along to the police station to take my testimony. I was then told that there was a complaint pressed against me of hampering municipal work, and I was told that I had a 24-hour detention sentence. I was locked at the police station. My uncle, Alaa alDin Shurrab arrived around noon and told me that he bailed me out. He told me that the case was closed and he had my brother, Shaban, with him. We went to the Deputy Police Governor and told him what happened. He considered the photos that circulated online were harmful and portrayed a bad image. We agreed that my brother Shaban would record a video clarifying what happened to take down the heat stirring public opinion. Indeed, after we left his office, a civilian person affiliated with the police recorded a video of Shaban clarifying what had happened right outside of the police station on a cellphone that he carried. We then went to the police and filed a complaint about the police conduct.”
For their part, the Khan Younis Municipality issued a statement clarifying what happened, stating that “the Municipality aimed to regulate the permanent street carts that impede traffic and block streets, which adds hardship to the public’s daily lives.” The statement added that, “All street cart vendors were told to not leave their carts overnight in the street, as their car can be mobile with wheels. However, one of the cart’s owners did not adhere to the order.” “A member of the public who owns a street cart assault municipal workers and police with a bar used to hold an umbrella over the cart as shown on the video circulating the internet. A policeman took it from him and did not use it to assault the subject as falsely reported. The necessary measures were taken with regard to those who breached order.” The Municipality also announced that they opened an internal investigation to identify the reasons the situation escalated, and to avoid its recurrence in the future.
In light of the above, PCHR demands the Public Prosecution open an investigation into the assault and the circumstances of the removal of the street carts, and to hold those responsible accountable. PCHR also calls upon the Municipality to put in place appropriate mechanisms to execute regulation orders in a manner that ensures respect for the public’s economic and social rights.
[1] Muslim prayer “For us Allah sufficeth, and He is the best disposer of affairs.” It is said by a person who’s very confident in God’s help, doesn’t fear any of His creature. The expression can sometimes be used by people in other different situation, like by a “victim of injustice” who can’t recuperate his/her right. Source:
