Jerusalem clashes after holy site protest
The clashes are taking place in one of the most disputed religious locations in the world
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Friday, 09, Feb 2007 12:15
Israeli police have forcibly broken up a Palestinian protest over construction work on the disputed al-Aqsa holy site in Jerusalem.
Police reportedly used stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas against a group of around 200 stone-throwing demonstrators, according to media reports.
The Reuters news agency cited an Israeli police spokesperson as denying that rubber bullets had been used, however.
Meanwhile at least 24 protesters succeeded in entering the al-Aqsa compound, the Associated Press news agency claimed.
At the centre of the clashes is the Temple Mount religious site, which Jews revere as the location of the first ever Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Muslims rank the al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock shrines as their third-holiest site.
Proposed excavations will create a new bridge to the Mugrabi Gate of the Temple Mount after the existing structure was declared to be dangerous.
Assurances that the construction work would not damage either the Mount or any other Islamic religious sites have failed to placate the protesters.
The renovation project has also sparked criticism from other Arab states in the region. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iranian state television earlier this week that "the world of Islam should show a serious reaction" to the construction work.