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Hamas employees protest in Gaza over unpaid salary

Xinhua, January 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

Dozens of Islamic Hamas movement employees protested Tuesday before the headquarters of the Palestinian unity government in Gaza over the failure to pay their full salaries regularly.

The employees gathered in front of the cabinet building where a weekly cabinet meeting was being held, chanting slogans against the unity government, Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Around 43,000 employees have been employed by Hamas since the Islamic movement violently took over the Gaza Strip and routed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces in June 2007.

However, the unity government, which Hamas and Abbas' Fatah Party agreed to form last June, has not been able to pay the employees' full salaries.

During the protest, police managed to prevent several people from breaking into the cabinet building.

Mohamed Seyam, chairman of the employees union in Gaza, threatened to escalate the protests against the unity government until their salaries are paid in full.

"All the promises made by the government to solve the problem are false," Seyam told reporters. "Nothing was achieved at all. Endit