JERUSALEM (JTA) — Palestinians rioted on the Temple Mount for a second straight year on Tisha b’Av.
Four Israel Police officers were lightly injured in the clashes on Sunday morning and three rioters from eastern Jerusalem were arrested. Palestinians threw rocks, firebombs and firecrackers at the officers, the Israel Police said in a statement.
Tisha b’Av is a day of mourning for Jews to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem’s Holy Temples; fasting is part of the observance.
Police went to the Temple Mount after receiving intelligence that the Palestinians had amassed a stockpile of weapons to attack Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall and Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount, the police said in its statement. The statement also said the rioters wielded iron bars and sprayed the officers with an unknown liquid.
The officers pushed back at the rioters, who retreated inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, police said. Police then closed the mosque doors with the rioters inside, allowing the Temple Mount visitors to resume their stay.
“We will continue to show zero tolerance for any attempt to disturb public order and undermine the status quo,” the police statement said, adding that the rioters will be arrested and “brought to justice.”
A similar riot occurred last year on Tisha b’Av on the Temple Mount.
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