Friday, March 05, 2010
JERUSALEM: Clashes erupted Friday between Muslim worshippers and Israeli riot police at a sacred and disputed hilltop compound following a sermon on a recent Israeli decision to include two West Bank shrines on a list of national heritage sites.
Worshippers emerging from Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque threw stones at policemen, according to Israeli police.
Israeli riot-control forces waiting outside the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary rushed in to restore order, using stun grenades to disperse the crowd, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
Other Muslim worshippers intervened to try to defuse the clash, and police eventually withdrew in coordination with the Muslim clerics who administer the compound, he said.
A small number of light injuries were reported by both sides.
Always tense, the compound has recently seen sporadic clashes linked at least in part to the Israeli government decision to include the West Bank shrines on the heritage site list.
The move's practical ramifications are unclear, but Palestinians see it as a provocation. Najeh Btirat, an official with the Muslim clerical authority that administers the compound, said the clash followed a mosque sermon on the issue.
JERUSALEM: Clashes erupted Friday between Muslim worshippers and Israeli riot police at a sacred and disputed hilltop compound following a sermon on a recent Israeli decision to include two West Bank shrines on a list of national heritage sites.
Worshippers emerging from Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque threw stones at policemen, according to Israeli police.
Israeli riot-control forces waiting outside the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary rushed in to restore order, using stun grenades to disperse the crowd, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
Other Muslim worshippers intervened to try to defuse the clash, and police eventually withdrew in coordination with the Muslim clerics who administer the compound, he said.
A small number of light injuries were reported by both sides.
Always tense, the compound has recently seen sporadic clashes linked at least in part to the Israeli government decision to include the West Bank shrines on the heritage site list.
The move's practical ramifications are unclear, but Palestinians see it as a provocation. Najeh Btirat, an official with the Muslim clerical authority that administers the compound, said the clash followed a mosque sermon on the issue.
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