200,000 Palestinians flood streets to bury Hamas leader

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 23, 2004

200,000 Palestinians flood streets to bury Hamas leader

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More than 200,000 Palestinians flooded the streets of Gaza on Monday to bury Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, assassinated in an Israeli airstrike as he returned from pre-dawn prayers at his neighbourhood mosque.

Chants of 'revenge, revenge' rose from the huge crowd. 'We will get revenge for every drop of blood that spilled from (Sheik Yassin),' said Hamas supporter Salman Bdeiri, 24, crying near the mosque.

To protect against attacks, Israel sealed off the West Bank and Gaza, banning Palestinians from Israel, and placed security forces inside Israel on high alert.

The massive crowd, some carrying billowing green Hamas flags, poured into the streets of Gaza City for Sheik Yassin's funeral procession on Monday, the largest gathering here in recent memory. Tens of thousands of furious Palestinians took to the streets across the West Bank.

Mourners in Gaza jostled to touch the Hamas leader's flag-draped coffin while women wailed and threw flowers and candy. Two Israeli helicopters flew above, and the sky was blackened from the smoke of burning tyres.

At the cemetery, the body was paraded through an honour guard of 400 militants armed with anti-tank missiles and machine guns.

'Our leader has left us, but we say to him, 'Your lessons will stay within our hearts and minds and our generations',' prominent Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi said in a eulogy.

Source: agencies

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