Fatah stage anti-Hamas Gaza rally

At least eight people, including two foreign journalists, were hurt in Gaza when thousands of men from the Fatah movement used…

At least eight people, including two foreign journalists, were hurt in Gaza when thousands of men from the Fatah movement used open-air Friday prayers to protest against the Hamas Islamist takeover of the Palestinian enclave.

Hamas security forces arrested a number of people in angry scenes but most worshippers dispersed quietly, while factional tensions in the territory continue to simmer.

Six Palestinian youths were injured by what appeared to be stun grenades as Fatah supporters threw rocks at the home of a leading Hamas figure in the southern town of Rafah, medics said.

Two French television journalists were slightly hurt in a similar incident outside a police station in Gaza City. It was unclear who set off the small blasts.

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Thousands of Fatah men, loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, attended the prayers in the latest sign of a renewed defiance on the part of the long-dominant secular movement following the rout of its forces by Hamas in the Gaza Strip in June.

Shots were also fired after the prayers in Gaza City and witnesses spoke of several men beaten or arrested by Hamas security men after some from the departing crowd threw rocks at the Interior Ministry building.