CPTnet
8 July 2011
AL-KHALIL (HEBRON): Many people injured in clash between Hizb-ut Tahrir
demonstrators and Palestinian police
by Courtnay Wilson
On 2 July 2011, the Islamic political organization, Hizb-ut Tahrir (The Party
of Freedom), staged a last-minute demonstration in Hebron after the Palestinian
Authority (PA) blocked a planned demonstration in Ramallah. Over 1000 demonstrators descended upon
the Palestinian-controlled area of the city in the late afternoon. Subsequent clashes with Palestinian
police—with the protestors throwing stones and police responding with tear gas
and shots fired into the air—resulted in about thirty casualties, including one
person who was hospitalized.
Bystanders, including four CPTers, watched as Palestinian police, dressed in
full riot gear, brutally pushed back onlookers in an attempt to clear the area.
Dismayed by the violence one
Palestinian bystander remarked of the Palestinian police, “They are not humans, they are Daytons,”
referring to General Keith Dayton who, as the US Security Coordinator for the
Palestinians, is the one responsible for the training of the PA security forces.
A CPTer positioned herself between the baton-wielding police and
bystanders. When the police commander approached, she scolded him for
ordering his officers to behave in such a violent fashion. He was
apologetic but defiant, and invited members of CPT’s Hebron team to meet with
him at a later date.The demonstration marked the ninetieth anniversary of the fall of the last
caliphate. The Hizb-ut Tahrir is
committed to re-establishing the caliphate, or Islamic state, across the Muslim
world.
