Jerusalem’s Al-aqsa mosque reopens after two months amid tensions

JERUSALEM AFP MAY31,2020 -Jerusalem’s Al-aqsa mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site, reopened Sunday after a more than two-month-long coronavirus lockdown, but tensions marred the event which came hours after a deadly police shooting.

Before dawn, worshippers in protective masks waited outside chanting “God is greatest, we will protect Al-aqsa with our soul and blood”, before they were let in for the first prayers of the day.

Israeli soldiers were stationed at the gates to the site, which has often been a flashpoint in the Israelipalestinian conflict, and police said eight arrests were made throughout the day.

A day earlier Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian disabled man in annexed east Jerusalem, where the compound is located. They mistakenly thought Iyad Khairi Hallak was armed and the killing prompted furious condemnation.

The Palestinian leadership demanded that the shooter face the International Criminal Court while the social media hashtags #Palestinianlivesmatter and #Icantbreathe echoed anger in the United States against police violence.

Eight Muslim residents were arrested by Israeli police Sunday at the religious site for “disrupting general visits” and chanting “nationalistic calls” against Jewish Israelis, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

The Al-aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock had been closed in March as part of measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, which has claimed 284 lives and infected more than 17,000 people in Israel.