This report is an update on the activities of the rights of the youth movement and some of the repressive methods used by the PNA security forces against the movement. The report is divided by district and covers the first half of April.
Salfit district
In the afternoon of April 12, the security apparatus of the Palestinian National Authority demolished the tent put up to host and support the sit-in in Salfit demanding an end to division and the election of a new National Council of the PLO. This move came after PNA forces had exhausted all other methods to contain the tent and remove the banners. In addition, there was an attempt to provoke the youth by tying a donkey to the protest tent, which had a sing around his neck reading âI want the end of the divisionâ.
Later that day, the intelligence service has called youth activist Muâtasim, as well as two other young people for interviews in the police station. The latter two were targeted because they filmed the “donkey accident” and the destruction of the tent and were forced to erase all the photos and videos from their cameras showing the two events.
Ramallah district
In a desperate attempt to divide the ranks of the protest movement in Al Manara Square in Ramallah, who continue to demand elections for a new National Council of the PLO, a provocateur of the security agencies filed a complaint against the independent youth activist Hassan Karajeh on the false ground that the latter attacked him. Kharajeh was arrested and interrogated for two days.
Responding to a call from the protestors still in hunger strike, scores of demonstrators marched from Al Manara to Clock Square and then to Abdel Nasser Mosque until the Presidentâs compound. The protestors demanded the protection of the life of the hunger strikers and the release of the imprisoned youth activists. They were planning to meet Abu Mazen demanding the release of all the political prisoners from Palestinian jails but the protest was stopped before they could reach the Presidential compound.
Because of the deterioration of the health status of one of hunger striker, his colleagues took him to the Ramallah hospital for treatment and to force him to eat. However, he refused treatment and to end his hunger strike. On their way back from hospital, a group of agents of the Palestinian security services stopped the car in which the hunger striker and his colleagues were travelling in an attempt to arrest him, but his colleagues defended him and managed to prevent detention.
Qalqiliya district
The activists in the tent refused to host and respond to journalists from Israeli Zionist media outlets who came to cover their protest and kicked them out of the tent.
Online activism
After the facebook page of the independent youth movement had been hacked two weeks ago, those who have hacked the page shut it again and managed to remove it permanently. Yet, activists and supporters can still communicate with the independent youth movement via facebook on: https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_103054189780933&ap=1