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If tensions erupted this Friday morning – both a day of demonstration, Muslim prayer, Christian Stations of the Cross and the start of the Jewish Passover – in the Old City, the ceremonies however ended up taking place in calm.
For this Friday of all dangers, which combined the day of Ramadan prayer, the Way of the Cross for Christians, and the first day of Passover, tensions began at 4 a.m. On the esplanade of the Mosques, a march was organized by Palestinian activists to protest against the death of more than 20 of them in three weeks, after attacks carried out by the Israeli army in the West Bank. These raids were in response to a wave of attacks that have killed 14 people in Israel since March 22.
“The protests were peaceful, but they started to escalate,” adds Shihab Amjad, a Palestinian politician residing in Jerusalem and a witness to the events. This Friday, the activists carried flags of Palestine and Hamas. Some of them stored stones, worrying about potential incursions into the third holiest site of Islam by settlers, who have multiplied provocations in recent days.
The youths threw stones at Jewish worshipers who were praying in front of the Western Wall, just below Al-Aqsa. They were also targeting the security forces, posted on the esplanade. At 6 a.m., they charged as far as the Al-Aqsa mosque – a rare occurrence. They used stun grenades and rubber-rimmed metal bullet launchers, the use of which is regularly denounced by human rights organisations.
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