RELEASE

Many people injured in clash between Hizb-ut Tahir demonstrators and Palestinian police

By Courtnay Wilson

6^th July 2011

HEBRON/AL-KHALIL

On July 2^nd, the radical Islamic political organization, Hizb-ut Tahir (The Party of Freedom), staged a last-minute demonstration in Hebron after the Palestinian Authority 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 protestors throwing stones and police responding with tear gas and shots fired into the air, resulted in about 30 casualties, including one person in intensive care.

Onlookers, including four CPTers, watched in shock as Palestinian police, dressed in full riot gear, brutally pushed back onlookers in an attempt to clear the area. Dismayed by the violence of Palestinians beating fellow Palestinians, one Palestinian bystander remarked of the police: “they are not humans, they are Daytons”. “Dayton” is a reference 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 the CPT team to meet with him at a later date.

The demonstration marked the 90^th anniversary of the fall of the last caliphate. The Hizb-ut Tahir is committed to re-establishing the caliphate, or Islamic state, across the Muslim world.