The popular peaceful rallies lead by youth movement against the internal Palestinian division continued on Sunday in the Gaza Strip which is ruled by Islamic Hamas movement.
Thousands of students at the Gaza-based al-Azhar University organized at noon time a sit-in on campus. They chanted slogans that called for ending the internal division and succeeding the efforts to achieve the reconciliation, and called for escalating the popular activities.
The demonstrators also held banners that read "the people want to end the division -- Fatah and Hamas hand in hand."
"We call on the feuding parties not to respond to the foreign pressures on the parties that prevent ending the division," said Za'aneen, one of the demonstrators.
Demonstrators also said that dozens of Hamas police and security officers arrived at the scene, surrounded the university' s campus and prevented the demonstrators from going to the streets to gather more supporters. Hamas police also prevented reporters to cover the rally.
Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinian lawyers and attorneys demonstrated before the courts in Gaza City in response to the call of the Democratic Forum of Lawyers for reaching a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah movements.
The lawyers condemned the Hamas police forces attacks on journalists and intellectuals who rallied over the past few days for ending the division.
Ahmed Abu Safeya, one of the lawyers told Xinhua that the lawyers are calling for increasing the popular protests and rallies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip against repressing the public freedoms and against the division that mounted the Palestinian people's suffering.
In the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, dozens of Palestinians also demonstrated at the city's main square calling for ending the internal division. They chanted slogans such as " the people are the source of authorities." The rally challenged the presence of dozens of Hamas police forces.
Meanwhile, the Forum of the Popular Movement to End Division accused Hamas security of arresting six of its activists in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, when the police dispersed a rally in the town of Bani Suhaila east of the city.
Hamas ministry of interior didn't comment on the accusations. However, the Gaza-based right group al-Dameer slammed the police and security forces of the deposed government of Hamas in the Gaza Strip for using excessive force against peaceful rallies.
"We condemn the ongoing brutal attacks carried out by the police of Hamas governments against peaceful rallies and also condemns the detention of dozens of activists. We call on the police to immediately release the prisoners and let the demonstrators continue with their protests," said al-Dameer.
Azzam al-Ahmad, a Fatah leader who leads the dialogue with Hamas told Palestine Radio on Sunday that Hamas should learn a lesson from the recent revolutions, which erupted in several Arab countries "and must respond to the demands of the demonstrators."
Meanwhile, the Hamas government said that one of its cabinet members held a meeting with the members of the Palestinian National Accordance Committee, which is composed of leaders of several Palestinian political powers and factions.
"The meeting discussed the initiatives of both Prime Minister Ismail Haneya and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to come to Gaza and end the ongoing division," Hamas government said in a statement. "The leaders agreed that reconciliation has to be finalized as immediate as possible."
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