Hamas police forces in the Gaza Strip dispersed a protest on Tuesday night against the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on protesters.

The protest was meant to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinian refugees who have fled the city of Latakia, which has been under attack by Syrian military forces in recent days.

Hamas' official justification for dispersing the protest, which was attended by 150 people, was that organizers had not received a permit to hold it.

Thousands of refugees have fled the western coastal region of Syria this week, including the al-Ramel refugee camp in Latakia. Many have fled to villages in northern Lebanon, due to the fear of violence and arrests.

The Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported that UNRWA is demanding access to the refugee camp in order to check on damage and the status of civilians there.

According to reports, the refugee camp has become a ghost town.

The Syrian Interior Ministry announced that its units began to pull out of Latakia after putting an end to what it described as armed terrorist groups, the state-run Syrian news Agency SANA reported Wednesday.

At least 34 people have been killed in Latakia since Saturday.

Human rights advocates say that at least 1,790 civilians and 410 security personnel have been killed since mid-March, when demonstrations for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad began.

As published online at Haaretz, 18 August 2011

	Hamas police in Gaza, 2007.
	Photo by: AP