JERUSALEM: Dozens of Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli police that erupted on Wednesday when Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound was opened to Jewish visitors, an AFP correspondent said.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP that Palestinians threw "stones and firecrackers" at police when they opened the walled compound's gates.
Police responded with stun grenades, Rosenfeld said, and closed the complex to the Jewish visitors after a small number had toured the site.
An AFP correspondent at the scene said dozens of Palestinians were wounded by rubber-coated bullets and stun grenade canisters, and were staying inside the Al-Aqsa mosque out of fear they would be arrested when leaving.
The compound, in Jerusalem's Old City, is revered as the location of the biblical Jewish temples and is considered Judaism's holiest place.
It also houses the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.
Rosenfeld said the situation on "Temple Mount," the Jewish term for the complex, was "calm again" and police had left the site.
Comments
Comments are closed.