Palestinian police break into parliament, firing weapons

About two dozen Palestinian policemen broke into the Palestinian parliament building today, firing in the air to protest what they said was the humiliation police were facing because of attacks by Hamas militants.

In clashes between police and Hamas in Gaza City and the nearby Shati refugee camp yesterday, Hamas gunmen attacked the local police station with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The camp’s deputy police chief, Ali Makawi, was killed in the fighting.

The clashes raged for about six hours, and subsided only around midnight Sunday, after Egyptian mediators stepped in. It was the fiercest internal fighting since 1996.

“Yesterday, we did not have enough bullets,” said one of the protesting policemen. “We had nothing to protect ourselves.

“Give us as least bullets to protect people and to protect our stations,” he said.

“Our commander died in front of us, and we were running out of bullets.”