Palestinian policemen rally to demand overdue salaries
(1 Jun 2006) Gaza city, Gaza Strip 1. Various of Palestinian policemen demonstrating outside the Palestinian Legislative Council building 2. Banner saying: (English) "No for black armed groups" 3. Various of policemen holding posters of former Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, demanding their salaries be paid 4. Protesters chanting 5. Posters of Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President 6. Protesters marching, chanting 7. Protesters walking to Abbas' office 8. Protesters holding poster of Yasser Arafat, former Palestinian President 9. Various of policemen marching (Upsound of shooting) 10. Protesters firing guns Rafah, southern Gaza strip 11. Children holding flowers outside police station 12. Children walking to police station 13. Children giving flowers to policemen 14. Various of policeman receiving flowers from young girls 15. Close up of Palestinian flag an sign 16. Children at the police station 17. Children shaking hands with policemen STORYLINE: Hundreds of Palestinian police on Thursday rallied outside the Palestinian parliament building, calling on the Hamas-led government to pay overdue salaries. The protest came a day after Hamas said it would only be able to pay a small number of employees one month's salary. Starved of cash because of Western sanctions, the government has been unable to pay salaries since it was sworn into office in March. The announcement means that more than 100-thousand workers, including many members of the Palestinian security forces, won't receive salaries for a third straight month. The protesters called on Hamas to pay their salaries and disband a private militia that recently took to the streets of Gaza. Participants in Thursday's demonstration were members of the Fatah movement, which has been locked in a bitter power struggle with Hamas. Meanwhile in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip dozens of children handed flowers to Palestinian policemen at the Rafah police station in support of the policemen's struggle. The US and European Union consider Hamas a "terrorist" group and have cut off hundreds of millions (m) of dollars in aid. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, has given Hamas until June 6 to accept a proposal that would implicitly recognise Israel. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
