Security Chaos and Proliferation of Small Arms

Attacks on Public Institutions and Officials

Field Update

30 August 2006

Another Attack on the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC)

6 Policemen and 1 Worker Injured during an Attempted Breach of the PLC Building by a Rally of Workers

PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 11:40 on Tuesday, 29 August 2006, a large number of workers arrived in a protest march to the vicinity of the PLC building in Gaza City to request jobs. They held a rally at the site. A number of protestors attempted to break into the PLC building. They threw stones at it, causing material damages. Some protestors succeeded in forcing open the outer eastern gate leading to the building. They rushed inside towards the PLC building despite efforts by police, armed with sticks, to stop them. After the break in, tens of members of the Executive Force deployed at the entrances of the PLC. They fired in the air and threw a teargas bomb and a sound bomb in an attempt to break up the protestors and prevent their entry inside the PLC building. The clashes between the protestors and security forces resulted in the light injury of 6 policemen and 1 protestor. All of them were treated at Shifa Hospital.

PCHR stresses the right to peaceful assembly as guaranteed by the law. However, the Centre finds unacceptable the attack on public or private institutions and inflicting damages on them. PCHR is concerned over the repeated attacks on public institutions, which are a continuum of the security chaos plaguing the Occupied Palestinian Territory.