Middle East

Group seeks probe of Palestinian beating at anti-Abbas march

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE- In this Feb. 23, 2017 file photo, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas listens to his Lebanese counterpart Michel Aoun address a speech, at the presidential palace, in Baabda east Beirut, Lebanon. Abbas will speak by telephone with U.S President Donald Trump in the first contact between the two leaders since Trump took office. Trump's planned phone call to Abbas was revealed in a White House notice Friday, March 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File) (The Associated Press)

Palestinians gather in an anti -government demonstration calling for the president Mahmoud Abbas to resign and an end to security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Monday, March 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) (The Associated Press)

Palestinians gather in an anti -government demonstration calling for the president Mahmoud Abbas to resign and an end to security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Monday, March 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) (The Associated Press)

A human rights group has called for an investigation of Palestinian security forces after they violently broke up an anti-government protest.

Amar Dweik, head of Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights, said on Monday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' self-rule government has become increasingly intolerant of criticism.

Dweik says dozens of people were detained after peaceful protests in the past six months, though most were released.

On Sunday, riot police beat demonstrators and journalists in the West Bank city of Ramallah during a rally against Abbas' continued security coordination with Israel.

Jihad Barakat of Palestine Today TV says he was pushed, his camera was broken and that he saw three colleagues being beaten with clubs.

Abbas heads an autonomy government in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.