Dozens of plainclothes members of the Palestinian security organization interrupted Wednesday a conference held by groups opposed to direct negotiations with Israel, witnesses said, dpa reported.
They said more than 200 police broke into the hall in downtown Ramallah where the conference was to be held, and started shouting slogans in favour of President Mahmoud Abbas, while waving his picture.
They then burst onto the stage and started singing and dancing, at times accusing the organizers of the conference, mainly from left- wing Palestinian organizations, of being allies of Syria and Iran and of acting against Palestinian interest.
The organizers, unable to hold the conference in the hall, held an impromptu protest demonstration in the streets of Ramallah, but police broke that up too, saying the protestors did not have a permit.
Police cars also used their sirens to drown out the slogans shouted by the demonstrators.
The conference organizers, some of whom sit on the Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee, which voted on Friday to start direct negotiations with Israel on September 2, condemned the interruption of the conference and accused the Palestinian Authority of curtailing freedom of expression.