PA employees protest outside Abbas' office in Gaza

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Some 3,000 Palestinians government employees and Fatah supporters protested outside PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Gaza City office Saturday, demanding payment of long-overdue salaries. Some of the protesters called on Abbas to fire Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. The workers, many of whom have been on strike since the beginning of September, said Abbas promised he'd pay them a full salary at the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began Saturday. The 165,000 civil servants, including teachers, police and health care workers, have largely gone without salaries since the Islamic militant Hamas came to power in March and the international community froze foreign aid.