GAZA CITY, Dec 13: Several thousand Palestinians demonstrated in Gaza City on Saturday demanding freedom for prisoners held by Israel, and a halt to construction of the Israeli barrier along the West Bank.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, connected to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, organized the demonstration, which criss-crossed the streets of Gaza before heading toward parliament.

“Do not let our state be turned into an immense prison torn by settlements and surrounded by the walls of racist separation,” the Brigades said in a statement.

Holding thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons “constitutes a denial of our lawful rights, and war crimes”, it said.—AFP