Israeli police use stun grenades to break up al-Aqsa protest
Friday, 05 October 2012
Palestinian youths throw stones during clashes with
Israeli security forces near al-Aqsa mosque on the compound known to
Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's
Old City. (Reuters)
Israeli police hurled stun grenades to disperse dozens of
protesters who threw stones outside the al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third
holiest site, after Friday prayers.
Two people were slightly injured and one person was arrested for attempting to stab a policeman as he was being taken into custody, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, according to Reuters.
“Several hundred worshippers threw stones at police who were stationed at the Mughrabi Gate, forcing them to go onto the plaza and push them towards the middle,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP.
Two people were slightly injured and one person was arrested for attempting to stab a policeman as he was being taken into custody, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, according to Reuters.
“Several hundred worshippers threw stones at police who were stationed at the Mughrabi Gate, forcing them to go onto the plaza and push them towards the middle,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP.
Police and an AFP correspondent
said the forces had used sound bombs to disperse the crowds when people
began throwing stones after the end of the weekly Friday prayers.
The mosque is part of a site revered by Jews as well as Muslims, and is a frequent source of friction between these religious groups.
Deadly riots erupted at the same site after a visit by then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon, at the outset of a several year Palestinian uprising in 2000.
Tensions flared this week after police arrested Israeli ultranationalists who tried to hold prayers at the compound, known by Jews as the Temple Mount, as the site of two biblical temples.
That incident occurred during a seven-day Jewish holiday, a time of pilgrimage to the adjacent Western Wall remnant of the second temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, now a focal point of Jewish prayer.
On Thursday, police arrested nine people. Five were Arab Israelis, who were accused of threatening Jewish and Christian visitors to the site, and four Israeli Jews, three of them rightwing activists who tried to force their way onto the plaza.
Another three Arabs and two Jews were arrested on Tuesday for disturbing the peace and attacking police at the compound.
The compound where al-Aqsa stands, which Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary, also houses the golden Dome of the Rock which marks the spot from which the Prophet Mohammad made his night journey to heaven.
Israel captured east Jerusalem in a 1967 war including the walled old city where the holy sites are located, and annexed it as part of its capital in a move never recognized internationally.
Palestinians want that part of the city as capital of a state they seek in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The mosque is part of a site revered by Jews as well as Muslims, and is a frequent source of friction between these religious groups.
Deadly riots erupted at the same site after a visit by then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon, at the outset of a several year Palestinian uprising in 2000.
Tensions flared this week after police arrested Israeli ultranationalists who tried to hold prayers at the compound, known by Jews as the Temple Mount, as the site of two biblical temples.
That incident occurred during a seven-day Jewish holiday, a time of pilgrimage to the adjacent Western Wall remnant of the second temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, now a focal point of Jewish prayer.
On Thursday, police arrested nine people. Five were Arab Israelis, who were accused of threatening Jewish and Christian visitors to the site, and four Israeli Jews, three of them rightwing activists who tried to force their way onto the plaza.
Another three Arabs and two Jews were arrested on Tuesday for disturbing the peace and attacking police at the compound.
The compound where al-Aqsa stands, which Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary, also houses the golden Dome of the Rock which marks the spot from which the Prophet Mohammad made his night journey to heaven.
Israel captured east Jerusalem in a 1967 war including the walled old city where the holy sites are located, and annexed it as part of its capital in a move never recognized internationally.
Palestinians want that part of the city as capital of a state they seek in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Labels: Conflict, Human Relations, Islamism, Israel, Judaism
posted by Pieface | 9:32 AM
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