February 24, 2012
Police quell Temple Mount riots
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Palestinian protesters run away from Israeli policemen during clashes on the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City on Feb. 24. Photo by REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Police dispersed Muslim rioters on the Temple Mount who apparently had been spurred by reports that Jewish extremists planned to enter the site.
Reports said the rioters, among the Friday worshippers at the site’s mosques, hurled rocks at the Mughrabi Bridge entrance, prompting a rare incursion by police, who used stun grenades.
At least 11 police and 15 rioters were hurt and four Palestinians were arrested.
The rioters were spurred, police said, by a Jewish extremist website that promised a mass incursion into the enclave this Friday, Israel radio reported.
Police have arrested one man for alleged incitement, and further arrests are planned, the report said.
A plan by Jewish extremists to enter the site in 1990—one that also was thwarted by police—sparked some of the deadliest riots in the site’s history.
The 2000 visit by Ariel Sharon, then the opposition leader, to the site preceded riots that launched the Second Intifada.
The site of the ancient Jewish temple now houses two mosques Muslims believe to be the third holiest in Islam. Below it is the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism.
