Tag it:

Local medical sources stated that Palestinian security forces shot thirty-seven-year-old Hisham Barad’i in the heart.

Several other protestors and security officers were injured during the rally, including the Hebron security chief, Samih As-Sayfi, as protestors threw stones at police.

Around 2,500 supporters of the Hizb Ut-Tahrir participated in the rally and more than 30 were arrested.

Dr Mahir Al-Ja’bari from Hizb Ut-Tahrir in Hebron accused the Palestinian security services of killing Barad’i and injuring many others.

Hebron Governor Hussain Al-A’raj, said he held Hizb Ut-Tahrir responsible for what happened. “I warned the leaders of Hizb Ut-Tahrir yesterday of the repercussions of the rally, and I told them that the Palestinian leadership will not relinquish unalienable Palestinian rights,” he said.

“We banned all rallies including pro and anti-Annapolis, and an application by Fatah to organize a pro-Annapolis rally was turned down,” he added.

Meanwhile, Palestinian security officers also suppressed an anti-Annapolis rally organized by Hizb Ut-Tahrir in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Hundreds attended the demonstration carrying black flags reading “La Ilaha Illa Allah” (There is no god but Allah), and calling for a Palestinian boycott of the Annapolis meeting.

They urged their supporters to prepare for the Islamic Caliphate, Jihad and the liberation of Palestine. 

30 protesters were injured when hundreds of heavily-armed Palestinian police and security forces dispersed a peaceful demonstration in opposition to the international meeting in Annapolis in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday. 

Eyewitnesses said that police and Presidential guards used batons and teargas to disperse the 500 person demonstration, which was held in defiance of a ban on public protests issued by the Palestinian Interior Ministry. Eight people were arrested, including Jamal Juma, the coordinator of the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. 

Mu’ammar Urabi, head of Watan TV in Ramallah, a member of the Ma’an network, was among those assaulted by Palestinian police. 

Wael Shuyokhi, an Al-Jazeera correspondent was also brutally beaten while covering the rally in Ramallah. 

At a second demonstration in Ramallah on Tuesday afternoon, witnesses said up to 200 protesters from the pan-Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir movement were detained by Palestinian security forces. Elderly men and women, activist, and journalists were beaten and detained. 

Witnesses said PA forces surrounded the Abdel Nasser Mosque in Ramallah, fired live bullets and used teargas to disperse demonstrators. 

Organizers said that up to 14 busloads of demonstrators were unable to reach Ramallah due to a heavy Palestinian security deployment throughout the West Bank. 

Ahmad Muslamani, head of the Palestinian Health Work Committees, one of the organizations that sponsored the demonstration, condemned the repression, calling it an attack on freedom of speech. “We will continue to express our opinion. This is a right we have to enjoy,” he said. 

Dozens of Palestinian civil society organizations from throughout the West Bank, Gaza, and inside Israel endorsed a platform in opposition to the Annapolis conference. A joint statement from the organizers of Tuesday’s demonstration called for a process of negotiation “aimed at the implementation of the rights of our people, and the establishment of a timeline for such implementation, not negotiation on the rights themselves.”

Of particular concern for the sponsoring organizations is the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, which they fear will be surrendered in the Annapolis process.