Worshipers barricaded inside Al-Aqsa Mosque amid rising Temple Mount tensions
Dozens of worshipers have barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount amid rocketing tensions on Jerusalem Day, according to Hebrew-language media reports.
There are concerns that they may be preparing to hurl stones and other items at Jewish visitors as they head onto the compound on Sunday morning.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, police locked the doors to the mosque and there has been sporadic throwing of stones at officers.
Police are preparing to enter the holy site to disperse the crowd, Channel 12 news says.
Several masked men fortified inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount threw stones at police officers – who closed the mosque’s doors@VeredPelman pic.twitter.com/8P8lMlWoHt
– News here (@kann_news) May 29, 2022
The reports come hours ahead of the controversial Jerusalem Day flag march through the Old City later in the day.
The annual march, set for Sunday afternoon, does not enter the Temple Mount, but Jewish visitors are being permitted to enter the compound on Sunday morning. The mount is the holiest place in Judaism as the site of the biblical temples, and Al-Aqsa Mosque atop the mount is Islam’s third holiest shrine. Jews are permitted to visit the mount but not to pray there.