Scores of people were injured on Saturday as Israeli police fired water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem a day after fierce clashes at the city’s Al-Aqsa mosque.
A day after more than 200 people were wounded at the mosque, the fresh violence prompted international calls to end the violence. Police said they dispersed the protest in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where demonstrators had thrown stones at security forces.
On the border with the Gaza Strip, troops fired tear gas toward Palestinian protesters, as officials said three incendiary balloons were launched into Israel, causing fires but no injuries. In Jerusalem, police said they made three arrests for attacks on officers, while Palestinians reported 13 other arrests earlier in the day.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported 53 people were injured in Saturday’s clashes in Jerusalem.
AFP journalists in Jerusalem said Israeli riot police had fired rubber bullets, sound grenades, and water cannons on Palestinians Saturday, some of whom threw projectiles at the police. One officer received a head injury, said police. On Friday, riot police stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque compound after saying Palestinians threw rocks and fireworks at officers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the police’s actions.
“Israel is acting responsibly to ensure respect for law and order in Jerusalem while allowing freedom of worship,” he said in a meeting of security officials. In years, the violence was the worst at Al-Aqsa, Islam’s third-holiest site after Mecca and Medina, located on the site Jews revere as the Temple Mount.
A focal point
Palestinians have held nightly protests in Sheikh Jarrah against an attempt by Israeli settlers to take over Arab homes. On Saturday, protesters chanted, waved Palestinian flags, and threw stones before police moved in.
Dozens of Arab Israeli protesters also gathered across Israel in solidarity with Sheikh Jarrah residents, holding signs that read, “The occupation is terrorism”. A reporter for Israeli public TV tweeted footage of a Jewish driver whose car was attacked with stones and windows shattered at the entrance to Sheikh Jarrah Saturday.
Police blocked buses filled with Arabs headed for Jerusalem from northern Israel, saying they would not be allowed “to participate in violent riots”.
Instead, hundreds marched on highways leading to the city.
Thousands of worshippers stayed on at Al-Aqsa on Saturday for Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny), a peak of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Israeli police fire grenades during a protest in Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, 8 May 2021. The Islamist movement Hamas, which rules Gaza, urged Palestinians to remain at Al-Aqsa until Ramadan ends, warning that “the resistance is ready to defend Al-Aqsa at any cost”. Palestinians set fire to a barricade outside the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City before police on horseback dispersed the protesters.
