Hundreds in Ramallah call on PA leader Abbas to resign: ‘Get out, get out’

A few hundred Palestinians gather in downtown Ramallah to call for the end of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s 16-year rule.

“Get out, get out, Abbas,” demonstrators chant.

Abbas has led the PA since he was elected to a four-year term in 2005. While he has regularly promised to allow Palestinians another shot at the ballot box, his pledges have never come to fruition. Surveys regularly find that a majority of Palestinians demand his resignation.

These latest demonstrations were sparked by the death of social media activist Nizar Banat while in the custody of PA security forces. Rights groups have accused the PA of brutally suppressing several demonstrations, wantonly attacking peaceful protesters and deliberately targeting journalists.

Yesterday, Abbas’s ruling party held a thousands-strong counterdemonstration intended as a show of strength against the roiling discontent.