Gazans protest against Assad

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Some 500 Palestinians demonstrated on Tuesday in Gaza City in solidarity with Syrian anti-government protesters.

The group of mostly Islamic University students hoisted Palestinian and Syrian flags and burned images of President Bashar Assad on Tuesday. They shouted “Bashar go to hell” to protest his violent crackdown on opponents.

Assad has long hosted and supported leaders of the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules Gaza. But as the death toll in Syria swells, Hamas has been trying to distance itself from its patron.

Hamas police authorized the protest.

One of the organizers, Hamas activist Muhammad Rayyan, said the protest was against Assad and those in Syria who are “killing their own people.”