PLC cancels session as entrance blocked by protest of BBC reporter's abduction
Palestinian lawmakers called off a rare parliamentary session on Wednesday after entrance to the Gaza building was blocked by a protest over the abduction of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston.
The demonstration was a part of a three-day strike by Palestinian media to protest the government's inability to find Johnston, who was kidnapped on March 12 in Gaza City. There has been no word on Johnston since and no claim of responsibility by any group. He is now the longest-held reporter in captivity in Gaza, which has prompted concerns about his fate.
Around 40 Palestinian journalists, aid workers and intellectuals, some with tape symbolically placed over their mouths, blocked lawmakers from attending the session. The group had broken off from a larger protest nearby.
Many officials said they suspected that members of the powerful Doghmush clan took Johnston, believing that security officials - both those loyal to the Islamist group Hamas and its rival Fatah - were reluctant to pursue it, fearful of antagonizing the heavily armed family. But a Doghmush leader publicly denied his family's involvement in the kidnapping on Tuesday.
Journalist or even Gilad Shalit?
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