The International Press Institute (IPI) condemned the reported attacks against at least five journalists that took place when Palestinian police forcefully dispersed protests in Ramallah over the weekend, according to news reports.

On Saturday, youths gathered to protest a planned meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli vice prime minister, and re-gathered on Sunday after the demonstrations were violently dispersed, reports said. Many demonstrators were reportedly assaulted and detained, including several journalists, among them Mohammed Jaradat, who told reporters that he was subjected to a prolonged beating by plainclothes police on June 30.

“Journalists must be able to record and report on demonstrations without fear of attack by security personnel,” said IPI Press Freedom Manager Barbara Trionfi. “The allegations by Mohammed Jaradat that he was beaten by police while in custody are alarming, and we call on the authorities to conduct a full investigation that results in the prosecution of the responsible officers. Such actions reflect on the entire police force.”

Jaradat, a freelancer who also runs a blog called “Life Media,” was recording the demonstrations when four plainclothes police officers seized his camera and began beating him within sight of their uniformed colleagues, according to a report from the Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA). His attackers took him to a nearby police station where the beating continued until the director of police, who happens to be Jaradat’s relative, arrived, the journalist told MADA. Jaradat was hospitalized for his injuries.

Attacks against the press continued with the demonstrations on Sunday.  According to a report from Ma’an news agency, Reuters photographer Saed al-Hawari was attacked, photographer Ahmad Musleh arrested, and the camera of journalist Ahmad Ouda  confiscated.  MADA further reported that Al Hayat Al Jadeeda photographer Issam Rimawi and journalist Mahmoud Harebat were beaten by police.

Harebat told MADA: “When we told him that we were journalists, his violence grew, as if he was targeting the press directly.”

Since the beginning of 2012, journalists working in the Palestinian Territories have faced attacks from both Israeli and Palestinian security forces. As IPI has recorded, reporters have been threatened and detained, television stations have been raided, and various news websites censored.