Clashes, tension continue during controversial Israeli flag march
(Update 1: Alters lede and headline, adds information)
Jerusalem, May 29 (EFE).- More than 20 Palestinians were injured on Sunday in Jerusalem’s Old City as tensions simmered over the controversial Israeli flag march to mark Jerusalem Day.
“Twenty-four people were treated” by the Palestinian Red Crescent’s medical teams after suffering injuries from falls, the effects of pepper spray or respiratory problems due to tear gas, the emergency service said.
Eight people were taken to the hospital for further treatment or monitoring, it added.
An Israeli police spokesperson said that tens of thousands of people took part in the rally in the western part of the city through to the Damascus Gate of the Old City to mark Jerusalem Day.
Jerusalem Day is the day on which Israel commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem after the 1967 Six Day War, while Palestinians see it as the beginning of East Jerusalem’s occupation.
In May 2021, the flag march triggered the 11-day war between the Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Israel that left more than 270 people dead.
Earlier in the day, some 2,000 Israelis stormed the site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, triggering clashes with Palestinians inside the compound.
The tension continued throughout the day as local media and social media users posted images of minor Palestinian-Israeli clashes in the streets of the Old City.
The flag march got under way at 2 pm GMT from various points in West Jerusalem with marchers heading towards the Old City’s Damascus Gate, passing through it to their final destination, the Wailing Wall.
During the rally, some Israelis attacked journalists and tried to cause damage to Palestinian houses, prompting the police to intervene with riot dispersal gear, as EFE was able to verify.
As is often the case each year, insults and all kinds of slogans against the Palestinians were also heard, including “Death to the Arabs.”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry “strongly” condemned the march.
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