Riots in E. Jerusalem after Palestinian bus driver found dead

Riots broke in several East Jerusalem neighborhoods overnight Sunday-Monday, hours after a Palestinian bus driver for the Israeli transportation company Egged was found hanging inside a bus late Sunday night at a bus depot in West Jerusalem.

The incident sparked widespread unconfirmed reports online of a lynching by Israelis, but Israel Police say a preliminary investigation indicated the man committed suicide.

The man’s family told Palestinian media that signs of violence were found on the body and rejected the suicide claim.

Police said stones and firebombs were hurled at security forces in the capital’s At-tur, Ras al-Amud and Abu Dis neighborhoods, prompting a response with what police said were riot dispersal methods, which generally means stun grenade and tear gas.

There were no immediate reports of people injured in the clashes.

The 32-year-old Palestinian driver was identified by Palestinian media as Yusuf Hassan al-Ramouni, a father of two, from the At-Tur neighborhood.

His body was transferred to Hadassah Hospital in Mount Scopus and then to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.

Pictures published by the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency purported to show bruises on Ramouni’s body

On Sunday evening, a Jewish man was stabbed while walking along a street in Jerusalem. His attacker fled after the assault.

The victim, 32, from the Breslov Hassidic sect, was on Hanevi’im Street, which lies close to the seam between West and East Jerusalem, when an Arab man attacked him from behind with a screwdriver and stabbed him in the back, Channel 2 reported.

The stabbed man managed to make his way to the Border Police station at the Old City’s Damascus Gate. The police escorted the victim to the Western Wall, where Magen David Adom emergency crews gave him first aid. He was then evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where he was said to be in light to moderate condition.

The assailant fled on foot in the direction of Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. Police closed off the entrances to the Old City.

Police suspect nationalistic motives in the attack.

Man stabbed in central #Jerusalem in suspected terrorist attack pic.twitter.com/3HyOgLvHF3

— ✡MAGID מגיד ✡ (@idf1980israel) November 16, 2014

https://twitter.com/IsraelHatzolah/status/534030612626038786

Last week, two Israelis were killed in stabbing attacks by Palestinians on the same day.

Israel Defense Forces soldier Almog Shiloni was stabbed to death in Tel Aviv; and 26-year-old Dalia Lemkus was killed outside the Alon Shvut settlement in the West Bank last Monday.

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