Calls for investigation as Palestinian security assault anti-Abbas protesters

A human rights group has called for an investigation of Palestinian security forces after they violently broke up an anti-government protest.

Amar Dweik, head of Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights, said on Monday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' self-rule government has become increasingly intolerant of criticism.

Dweik says dozens of people were detained after peaceful protests in the past six months, though most were released.

On Sunday, riot police beat demonstrators and journalists in the West Bank city of Ramallah during a rally against Abbas' continued security coordination with Israel.

Jihad Barakat of Palestine Today TV says he was pushed, his camera was broken and that he saw three colleagues being beaten with clubs.

The protests follow the death of Bassel al-Araj, a Palestinian writer, who was killed in an Israeli raid last week.

Activists have accused the Palestinian Authority, which had previously detained Araj, of 'collusion' in his death through its policy of sharing intelligence with Israel.