AA / Jerusalem
Israeli settlers invaded the esplanade of the Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem on Monday, under heavy police protection.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that dozens of police were deployed in the courtyards of the mosque shortly before the settler incursions began.
The police forced worshipers to completely vacate the courtyards of the mosque, before beginning to allow settlers to storm it, in groups of around 40 settlers each.
Dozens of Muslim worshipers inside the Al-Qibli Mosque’s covered prayer hall protested the assault, chanting “God is great, thank God”.
The Israeli police allow settlers daily, except Fridays and Saturdays, to raid the mosque’s esplanade in the mornings and followingnoons following the end of the Muslim midday prayer.
The settler assault this week takes on a special sensibility, given that it coincides with Passover, which began Friday evening and lasts for a week.
Settler groups have called for more incursions during the Easter period.
*Translated from Arabic by Hend Abdessamad
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