The Palestinian Authority declared a state of emergency in Gaza, and ordered all schools and universities closed after a second day of rioting. Palestinian television Monday night issued pleas for calm and unity and warned of a complete breakdown in social order. It was considered the most serious challenge to Arafat's rule since its establishment in 1994. Pro bin Laden demonstrations also took place Tuesday at universities in Bethlehem and Nablus.

Monday, Palestinian Police opened fire on a crowd of thousands of demonstrators chanting "Hail bin Laden" and carrying bin Laden posters in protest of U.S. attacks. The demonstrators, mostly Islamic students, attacked police and later burned PA buildings in Gaza. At least three demonstrators, one a 13 year old, were killed and reportedly over 200 were wounded. It is thought to be the first time that Palestinian police have shot dead Palestinian demonstrators. Scores of policemen were also injured. News of events Tuesday is limited because foreign journalists were prevented by the PA from entering the Strip.

After nightfall Monday, demonstrators attacked two Palestinian police stations with stones and firebombs. Police responded with tear gas and live fire in the air, witnesses said. The area was declared a closed military zone and reporters were not allowed to enter, but the BBC managed to screen a view of the police compound in flames. The BBC reported that rioting had spread to other parts of the Gaza Strip.

Arafat himself left Gaza as the violence was increasing, flying to Cairo for a meeting with Egyptian officials. In a press conference following the meeting, Arafat refused to relate to the recorded speech of Osama bin Laden, in which the terrorist leader placed heavy emphasis on the Palestinian cause. "I have nothing to say on this issue," Arafat said.

Referring to bin Laden's expression of support for the Palestinians, Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the Palestinians were victims of "continuous crimes and killings." But, he added, "this does not justify or give cover for anyone to kill or terrorize innocent civilians. We don't want any crimes committed in the name of Palestine."

The protest march during the day was sponsored by Hamas. More than 1,000 students from Islamic University marched toward the center of Gaza City. Palestinian police tried to block them, firing tear gas, beating students with batons and firing live rounds into the air. Protesters chanted, "Long live Palestine, long live Afghanistan, long live Islam," "Bin Laden, bin Laden!" and "Hail bin Laden!"

Security eventually managed to drive the students back to the university. They also chased away journalists and threatened them not to report on the demonstration. But the New York Times quoted a Palestinian policeman, who left his post once the gunfire began, telling a local reporter. "I feel confused. We are shooting our own people!"

AP reported that at the university, dozens of protesters threw stones and firebombs and occasionally fired guns, witnesses said. Police fired continuously into the air and occasionally at gunmen, witnesses said. Clashes broke out in several locations on the fringes of the school, a Hamas stronghold.

Two people — identified as Abdullah Ifranji, 13, and Yusef Akel, 22 — were shot with live ammunition and died. A third, Haitham Abu Shamaleh, 20, was pronounced clinically dead in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, family members said.

The Palestinian Authority apparently is trying to claim that the deaths were not caused by its security forces. The AP quoted Palestinian police commander Ghazi Jabali as saying that the two dead - a 13-year-old boy and a 21-year-old student - were "bystanders killed by fire coming from masked men inside the university." He said the gunmen at the university were not believed to be students.

However, the Palestinian Committee for Human Rights said its monitors did not witness shots being fired from the campus and criticized the police for using "excessive force." Amnesty International said in a statement that the Palestinian police reaction to the demonstrations constituted "reckless and unlawful use of lethal force" against protesters.

Palestinian Police chief Jabali said Monday's demonstration was illegal because it was not coordinated with authorities. At Arafat's orders, Police closed the Islamic University and neighboring Al Azhar University for a week in an attempt to head off additional confrontations.

The AP said that preliminary reports by medical workers indicated 214 people were injured in the clash and several other confrontations that lasted well into the night. Unnamed PA officials later claimed the number of injured was lower.

After nightfall, the AP reported, about 100 demonstrators, most of them teen-agers, threw stones and fire bombs at a police station in the Shati refugee camp near Gaza City, witnesses said. Police responded with tear gas and live rounds and protesters eventually dispersed.

Agencies also reported that a similar clash took place in the Khan Yunis refugee in the southern Gaza Strip. Some of the protesters there were relatives of the Palestinian man placed on life support after being critically wounded in the Gaza City clash.

Palestinian leaders have said that demonstrations expressing support for bin Laden represent a minority view, and should not receive prominent attention. Enforcing that view, the security forces have repeatedly tried to prevent journalists from reporting on these protests. Security forces blocked a BBC television correspondent from entering Gaza.

Tuesday the BBC's Gaza correspondent Kylie Morris, inside Gaza, reported that policemen are very visible on every street corner. She said there was an intelligence van parked outside the building where the BBC and other foreign media have their offices, monitoring their movements.

The AP reported that Palestinian authorities also told journalists not to report on the bin Laden posters that appeared at a funeral procession Monday for a Palestinian killed a day earlier in the West Bank town of Hebron. "Our dear bin Laden, hit Tel Aviv,"' some of the mourners chanted.

On Tuesday, the BBC reported that Palestinian students in the West Bank protested against the use of force by their police in Gaza. Sit-ins were staged at the universities of Nablus and Bethlehem, and students held up banners reading "We will not allow Palestinian blood to be shed by Palestinians" and "No to political arrests." About 1,500 students from Nablus's al-Najah University marched, carrying banners protesting US air strikes and international sanctions on Iraq.

Israel, for its part, praised the behaviour of the Palestinian police, although spokeman did not refer to the death of protesters. "For the first time we congratulate the Palestinian Authority for taking the measures which it promised to implement against terrorists," said Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

As rioting continued, the Washington Post reported, Arafat's security forces reportedly made more than 120 arrests. That news pleased Israeli officials, who for have long demanded that Arafat detain Islamic militants. They were also heartened by reports this evening that Arafat had ordered the arrest of anyone who attacks Israelis, an order that would likely include members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, militant groups that have carried out a string of bombings against Israelis.

"Better late than never," said Gissin. The Islamic militants, he asserted, "did what they wanted like a state within a state. Arafat tried to say it was Israel's problem, but now it's his problem and that's why he's taking action. It's a matter of survival for him."

The Boston Globe reported that Jamila Saydum, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from Gaza, tried to blame Israel, saying that the incidents in Gaza "started with a quarrel among the students. It escalated when police opened fire at demonstrators leaving the campus" for the march. She said police had fired into the air to scare the students, and that fatal firing was initiated by "collaborators [with Israel] who are trying to break the national unity ... to serve the interests of the Zionist enemy." But that charge, the Globe reported, was not repeated in a special broadcast, "The Regrettable Events in Gaza," shown on Palestinian television during the main news broadcast last night, in which representatives of all major factions stressed that their main enemy was Israel and called for national unity.

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