Hamas opponents fear crackdown in Gaza "We were shocked," said Ouroula Othman, Tamarod's spokesperson. If it had been the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, we could have understood, because they have a relationship with Israel. But even though Hamas is always talking about resistance against Israel, they thought people might use this campaign against them. Their thinking was affected by what's happened in Egypt. They wouldn't say it frankly but it was very clear. Two protesters were arrested and beaten while one of the organisers was summoned by Hamas' internal security services for a day-long interrogation. Hamas is very sensitive and nervous about us. I expect to be arrested any day," said Tariq al-Farra, 27, who said he had been detained 17 times since 2007, when Hamas seized power in Gaza. Three people in Nusairat [a Gaza refugee camp] were arrested after being overheard talking about us and they weren't even members. The surveillance is obvious on social media, where I feel I am being observed and followed. When I expressed my opinion about Egypt on Facebook, saying that the legitimacy came from the 33 million who took to the streets [against Mr Morsi], I could tell that some of the comments were from Hamas spokesmen and that they were very angry. Some accused me of not being a Palestinian and said Morsi had been merciful towards Gaza. The emergence of a Tamarod movement compounds problems for Hamas caused by the downfall of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestinian group's parent organisation whose sudden rise to power in 2012 ended the isolation Gaza's rulers had endured when the Hosni Mubarak ran Egypt. With the Brotherhood's downfall, Gaza has suffered increasing fuel and cement shortages - causing long queues at filling stations and halting building projects - after Egyptian security forces stepped up moves to block and flood the cross-border tunnel network that has kept the local economy functioning. Although not merely targeting Hamas, some activists hope to exploit widespread economic discontent and resentment over social restrictions imposed by the group's Islamist ideology to foment mass street protests. "We hope we can bring people to the streets," said Mr al-Farra. The economic situation, the social pressures and the peace talks being brought about by John Kerry [the US secretary of state] will bring people out. Hamas officials have dismissed the local campaign. "I would say it's impossible to have a similar thing happen in Gaza," said Ehab Ghussein, Hamas' spokesman. For many years, Israel, the international community and even Palestinians [in the shape of Fatah] tried to do even worse things, with internal coups, assassinations and so on. But they failed. Their only effect was to make Palestinians stop believing in democracy because every time Islamists win, they try to over-throw them. Ahmed Yousef, an adviser to the Hamas government, said: "I don't think this Tamarod movement can do anything, either in Gaza or Ramallah. We are under occupation and suffering. People understand we are not a state like Egypt, which has leftists, liberals, the army and a security apparatus. We have to be united otherwise all of us will be losers. Hamas won elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council covering the West Bank and Gaza in 2006. After an uneasy power-sharing arrangement with the secular Fatah grouping, it seized complete power in Gaza in a coup the following year that witnessed deadly shoot-outs Between the two rival movements. Several rounds of talks of aimed at reconciling the two groupings have failed to bear fruit. Mr Abbas' Fatah group has excluded Hamas members from power and influence in the West Bank.