Clashes Erupt as Israeli forces and settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound (VIDEO)

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Sun 02 June 2019:

Hundreds of ultra-nationalist Jews guarded by riot police stream into the compound, sparking violence.

Protests erupted on Sunday after Israeli forces entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound along with hundreds of ultra-nationalist Jews whom they allowed to access the compound on Jerusalem Day – when Israelis celebrate the anniversary of their occupation of East Jerusalem at the end of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The Muslim Waqf organisation which oversees the mosque compound – the third holiest site in Islam – said police used rubber bullets and pepper spray and arrested seven people. One Palestinian man suffered a head injury, while others were treated for gas inhalation inside the compound, a medic from the Palestinian Red Crescent said. It was the first time in about 30 years that Jews were allowed into the site during the final days of the fasting month of Ramadan, which coincided this year with the Israelinational holiday commemorating control over the city.

Al Jazeera reports that settlers gathered outside the compound and police decided to let them in.Palestinians inside the mosque protested against the admittance of the Israelis, with some throwing chairs and other items, prompting Israeli forces to enter the mosque and fire tear gas, sound bombs and rubber bullets, and arrest a number of Palestinians.

Israeli police decision

Reporting from West Jerusalem, Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett said: “What had been announced was that Jews would not be allowed into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound because of the sensitivity coming up to the end of Ramadan.” “But what actually took place was that hundreds of what we would expect to be right-wing settler and religious nationalists assembled at the gate demanding entrance. “Once the police had apparently decided they would be allowed in, protests by Palestinians started and forces moved in to put down the demonstrations. At that point, the Jewish settlers were allowed to come in,” said Fawcett. Video inside the compound showed Palestinians shouting  “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) and throwing chairs and other objects at a doorway before tear gas and stun bombs were thrown at them.  Thousands of Jews have also flocked to the nearby Western Wall to mark the occasion ahead of celebrations and marches that will be held around the city in the afternoon and in the evening.

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