Hamas security forces in Gaza violently put down a protest by female pro-Fatah students, temporarily detained a British journalist, and arrested hundreds of senior Fatah members today, a day after seven were shot dead at a mass rally.

The Palestinian Islamist organisation made several hundred arrests overnight, hours before the funerals were held for the Fatah members killed in yesterday's gunfight which took place during a demonstration to mark the anniversary of Yassir Arafat's death.

In addition to the overnight arrests, baton-wielding police officers from the Islamist group turned violent today in order to disperse a pro-Fatah demonstration by schoolgirls from Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza.

The headscarved students were seen to have gathered in front of the town's police station chanting "Shia, Shia, Shia", a derogatory reference to Iran's backing of Hamas, after going on strike in protest at the killings of Fatah members yesterday.

Some of the schoolgirls were seen to fall to the ground and others fled as police attacked them with batons. At the protest, the journalist Paul Martin, reporting for The Times in Gaza, and a cameraman were briefly detained in a police cell before being released.

Those arrested today included numerous prominent members of the secular Fatah in the territory, including the former mayor of the town of Beit Lahiya, Muhammad Adel al-Masri.

Hazem abu Shanab, one of the few remaining Fatah senior figures in the Gaza Strip, told The Times that the Hamas paramilitary police had arrested "hundreds" of Fatah supporters or members overnight, and that "hundreds more" were on the wanted list.

"They are searching for me at the moment, but so far I have evaded capture," he said.

Later this morning, funerals took place for several of those killed in yesterday's gunfight, including a 12-year-old boy. Large crowds were seen gathering at the funerals, which turned into anti-Hamas protests.

The mass-clampdown by Hamas appeared to be a strong-armed attempt by the Islamists to stamp firmly on any sign of rebellion in Gaza, which Hamas has run since throwing out Fatah forces in June, as well as further evidence of its restrictions placed on journalists operating in the territory.

Hamas retains pariah status within the international community for continuing to refuse to recognise Israel's right to exist, renounce terrorism or acknowledge previous interim peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. The organisation has claimed responsibility for killing 482 Israeli civilians in suicide attacks since 1993.

The latest bout of infighting exploded into the open when Hamas police killed seven people in a crowd of hundreds of thousands who had massed in the heart of Gaza City to commemorate Yassir Arafat's death yesterday.

The gathering was the largest mobilisation of support for the Fatah party of Mr Arafat and his successor, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, since June's Gaza takeover. Mr Abbas remains in control of the West Bank.

Mr Abbas is mobilising his supporters on the Palestinian street ahead of a high-profile peace conference with Israel, to be hosted by the US, in Annapolis later this month.

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