University students stage sit-in against political detentions

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Students at Birzeit University have staged a sit-in on campus in protest at political detentions and summonses being issued against them by the Palestinian Authority’s Security Forces in the West Bank. The students are members of parties belonging to the Islamic Bloc.

The sit-ins began last Thursday after officers from Preventative Security arrested one of the leaders of the group, a student by the name of Omran Mazloum, as he left the university. Five others received summonses but as they were inside the university at the time security officers were unable to arrest them. As a result of these actions, the student body called for the sit-in inside the university.

Other students have flocked to the campus to offer support to their striking colleagues. A number of deputies from the Palestinian Legislative Council also joined the sit-in and took part in the press conference held by the students on Friday, during which the students demanded written guarantees that they would not face arrest, particularly by the Preventative Security Forces.

Security forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority have been hunting down students belonging to the Islamic Bloc at universities in the West Bank since 2007, preventing them from completing their education.

MEMO Photographer: Ibtehal Mansour