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Activists launch sit-in in support of Gaza at PLO base in Ramallah

August 20, 2018 at 11:56 am

Hundreds of Palestinians take to the street in Ramallah city to protest Palestinian Authority measures imposed on people of Gaza on 15 August 2018 [AbdelKarim Alkahlout/Twitter]

Palestinian activists launched a sit-in at the headquarters of the PLO in the West Bank city of Ramallah calling for the PLO, Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas to lift the sanctions imposed on the Gaza Strip, Safa news agency reported yesterday.

The activists gathered and started their sit-in inside the PLO office and raised placards calling for the PLO to lift Abbas’ sanctions on Gaza and asked to meet officials.

According to the activists, the PA security services and the PLO employees surrounded them, tore the placards and asked them to leave the office.

Security services asked them not to take pictures of videos of forces who were breaking up the sit-in.

Read: Seeking ‘humanity’ in the Gaza truce agreement

Ove the past few weeks, the PA security services have cracked down on protests and demonstrations that called for the lifting of punitive measures imposed on the Gaza Strip.

Abbas imposed a package of sanctions on Gaza in April 2017 that included salary cuts for PA employees, reducing electricity supplies, slashing treatment transfers and forcing more than 20,000 employees to take early retirement.