GAZA CITY, July 22 (AFP) - Several thousand Palestinians flanked by masked gunmen demonstrated here on Thursday demanding the departure of Musa Arafat, a cousin of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appointed security chief in the Gaza Strip.
The protesters rallied in response to a call from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and from a section of Yasser Arafat's movement Al Fatah.
The rally was intended as a show of force by opponents of Musa Arafat inside Al Fatah, following two days of loudspeaker appeals in Palestinian refugee camps.
Several dozen mainly young demonstrators were driven in aboard buses from refugee camps or adjoining neighourhoods.
Supporters of Musa Arafat had managed to muster only about 300 supporters at their own rally on Wednesday evening.
Violent protests erupted at the weekend after Yasser Arafat appointed his cousin Musa as the new overall head of general security, with demonstrators denouncing him as the epitome of corruption.
Reacting to the protests, Arafat announced Monday that his cousin would only head up the general security branch in the Gaza Strip, rather than the whole of the Palestinian territories as initially indicated.
Chanting "Try the symbols of corruption before the people tries them," the Thursday demonstration marched from the Yarmuk Stadium to the Palestinian Legislative Council building, spraying automatic gunfire in the air.
Masked gunmen took up position on roofs and around the building.
There was a brief panic at the start of the march when shots went off near a Palestinian official building.
Fearing an attack by Musa Arafat supporters, those at the rear of the procession scattered for cover.
The demonstration also paid homage to Palestinian martyrs and their families and voiced support for Marwan Barghuti, the West Bank Al Fatah leader sentenced to life imprisonment by Israel.
One speaker said: "We are reading to you communique number one of a new Intifada, an Intifada for right and justice against corruption."
Another speaker read out a list of charges against Musa Arafat, including allegations of collaboration with Jordanian officialdom during the 1970 Black September massacre in Jordan. They also charged him with having contacts with Israeli intelligence and misappropriating public ground.
The speakers described themselves as the authentic heirs to the Al Fatah movement founded by Yasser Arafat and the sole defenders of the martyrs and their families.
Earlier, the armed militants of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades loyal to Arafat vowed to pursue their war against corruption as vigorously as their campaign of violence against the Israelis.
"Our primary task now is to fight against corruption and corrupt people in the same way that we are struggling against the Israeli enemy," they said in a statement.
The Brigades, an armed offshoot of Arafat's Fatah movement, led the weekend protests against Musa Arafat's appointment.