GAZA CITY

Dozens of journalists held a sit-in in Gaza yesterday to protest against pressure on the media by the Islamist Hamas movement, which took over the territory in June.

Two days before the demonstration Hamas forces had detained four journalists and broken up a rally of the rival Fatah party, which is led by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President.

“Yes to freedom of the press!”, “No to journalists arrests!”, “Keep journalists out of politics!”, read banners at the gathering of more than 100 reporters in front of the journalists’ union building in central Gaza City. The Jerusalem-based Foreign Press Association urged “the relevant authorities in Gaza to allow the proper functioning of the free press. There can be no excuse for any attempt to limit this freedom.”

On Friday three cameramen and an AFP photographer were detained briefly at the Fatah rally. Hamas forces fired in the air to disperse the crowd and tried to detain two other cameramen, but were prevented from doing so by other journalists. (AFP)

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