The Electronic Intifada 7 July 2012
"DUBAI (IRIN) - “I have never seen such brutality in my life, except from the Israeli forces,” said Aliya still shocked a day after her protest march through the West Bank city of Ramallah was violently attacked by security officers working for the Palestinian Authority. “They just kept on beating us.”
Aliya (not her real name) was one of a few hundred young people who had marched on Sunday, 1 July to protest against police brutality which had broken up an earlier demonstration.
As the protestors started to call for the resignation of Abdul Latif al-Qadumi, the head of the Ramallah police force, the reaction of the police grew more violent. “No to Dayton’s police! Stop the coordination!” was one of the protesters’ cries.
Keith Dayton, the former US Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC), ended his term overseeing US assistance in restructuring Palestinian security forces in 2010. But the lieutenant-general’s legacy — newly trained and equipped Palestinian police and intelligence forces — remains.....
According to Aliya, the specialized police forces only arrived late on the scene of the demonstration; it was plainclothes security officers and uniformed members of the Palestinian Civil Police who attacked the protesters....
Shirin Abu-Fannouna, who works for the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, said there was a trend among security forces to target political dissenters protesting against the PA....."
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