OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - IOF troops on Friday intensified their presence in occupied Jerusalem, especially around the Aqsa Mosque fearing demonstrations in support of the Egyptian people’s revolution.
The troops only allowed men over the age of 50 years to enter the mosque to perform their Friday prayers and claimed that the increased security measures were based on intelligence warnings, but did not divulge the nature of such warnings.
In the Silwan suburb of Jerusalem clashes broke out between the heavily armed soldiers and Palestinian worshipers who attended the Friday prayers at the protest tent in the Bustan neighbourhood many houses of which are threatened with demolition.
Local sources said that confrontations spread to Beer Ayoub, Ain Allawzeh and Wadi al-Helwah neighbourhoods and that the IOF fired sound bombs and teargas canisters resulting in dozens of cases of breathing difficulty as a result of inhaling teargas.
Local sources also said that the confrontations resulted in the injury of 36 people, including six journalists who were covering the clashes and two paramedics were providing first aid to the injured.
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