On September 13, as Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed in Washington an interim self-rule accord for Gaza and Jericho, protestors against this agreement were killed and injured in Beirut and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
In one particularly bloody demonstration held on that day, Lebanese Army troops killed seven men and one woman as they peacefully protested against the accord. Dozens more were injured by gunfire when the demonstration of several hundred persons was forcibly dispersed by units of the Lebanese Army.
Hizballa, a pro-Iranian Lebanese Shi`a group, and other political organizations had called for the protest. The demonstration was held in defiance of a decision taken by the Lebanese government in mid-August indefinitely banning "all assemblies and processions," whether or not they had obtained a license from the authorities.