Fatah gunmen have stormed the Hamas-controlled Palestinian parliament building in Ramallah in the West Bank.

The gunmen reportedly tried to seize the Palestinian Legislative Council's second deputy speaker, Hassan Khuraishah, but staff intervened.

Khuraishah said he had been beaten up as he tried to prevent Fatah gunmen from raising their flag.

The clashes came after Fatah was ousted from Gaza by Hamas, ending a week of clashes which left more than 100 dead.

The leader of Fatah, President Mahmoud Abbas, is due to swear in an interim Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, to lead an emergency government after his predecessor was dismissed.

The dismissed Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya, a Hamas leader, said the move was illegal, but called for people to show self-restraint and ordered police to ensure the rule of law.

Earlier, the Arab League condemned the latest infighting in Gaza as 'criminal' and pledged fresh support for Abbas.

In a show of strength, supporters of Abbas' Fatah movement paraded around Ramallah and fired weapons into the air.

They chanted 'Hamas out' outside the parliament and climbed onto the building's roof to plant Fatah and Palestinian flags.

Later, they scuffled with officials after forcing their way into the office of one of the PLC's two deputy speakers and accusing him of being a Hamas supporter.

Khuraishah, an independent, had been trying to stop members of a Fatah-linked militant group, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, hanging a flag inside the building.

Other Fatah supporters ransacked the ministry of education, led by Hamas member Nasser Shair, although no-one was harmed in the attack.

Almost all Hamas politicians and prominent supporters in Ramallah have either fled or gone into hiding.