Gazans Protest Killing of 3 Muslim Students in US

Nearly 1,500 Palestinians took to the streets across the Palestinian territory on Saturday night in an angry protest against the execution-style killing of the Muslim students near the Chapel Hill campus of the University of North Carolina, referring to the shocking incident as an attack against Islam and its followers.

The protest rally was called for by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, Press TV reported.

Last week, a 46-year-old American named Craig Hicks shot and killed the three Muslim students -- Deah Barakat, his wife, Yusor Abu Salha, and her sister, Razan Abu Salha -- allegedly after a dispute over a parking spot near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

However, some reports say the apartment housing complex included plenty of parking spaces.

Palestinian authorities have described the triple murder as an anti-Muslim act of terror.

“There is an international media blackout so that people would not know that it was a hate crime to terrorize Muslims. This crime shows the ugly face of those in America who talk about democracy and act against it. Muslims all over the world must not remain silent amid the shedding of innocent Muslim blood,” said senior Hamas official Mohammad Abu Askar.

The incident comes amid what many experts describe as a rising tide of Islamophobia in the United States.

Protesters in Gaza were especially angry because two of the Chapel Hill victims -- the Abu Slaha sisters -- were Palestinian-Americans.

Protesters say the cold-blooded murder of the three Muslim students reflects the scope of hatred against Muslims in the United States.

The development comes as US press reports have revealed that the suspected killer of the Muslim students was heavily armed with an arsenal of at least a dozen firearms in his home, citing official search warrants.