Police, protesters scuffle in Jerusalem after Arab woman arrested

An Arab woman was arrested outside of Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday, sparking low-level clashes between bystanders and police.

There were no reports of injuries in the incident at the heavily guarded Damascus Gate.

Police said there was “procession of Muslim women” protesting at the site when cops approached a woman to arrest her.

A police spokesperson said the suspect then entered a store to avoid arrest, as a crowd at the site began throwing rocks at the policemen. Police originally said the woman had thrown stones, and later maintained they were investigating whether that was the case.

Police subsequently dispersed the crowd.

The woman who was arrested was a member of the all-female Murabitat group, known for opposing Jewish presence on the Temple Mount, by shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”) at visitors, and sometimes resorting to physical assaults. The Prime Minister’s Office describes the group as a “salaried group of activists aimed at initiating provocations on the Temple Mount.”

The Damascus Gate area, the main entrance to the Muslim Quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem, has been the site of dozens of Palestinian attacks on Jews in recent months.

Police have stepped up security there, including searching those coming in and out of the gate — the main entrance into the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.

Last month, policewoman Hadar Cohen, 19, was killed and a colleague was seriously injured after three Palestinians shot and stabbed them in the same area.

Twenty-nine Israelis and three foreign nationals have been killed in a wave of Palestinian terrorism and violence since October. Over 170 Palestinians have also been killed — some two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, and the rest during clashes with troops — according to the Israeli army.

Lee Gancman contributed to this report.