Tensions Rise in Jerusalem following Light Rail Attack

Renewed clashes broke out early Thursday in East Jerusalem following the death of a Palestinian suspect who rammed his car into pedestrians at a light railway station killing a 3-month old Israeli infant.

Israeli forces and Palestinians clashed in the al-Issawiya, Ras al-Amud, Silwan and a-Tur neighborhoods early Thursday, witnesses said.

Locals said the entrance to al-Issawiya had been closed shut by concrete blocks, with Israeli forces firing rounds of tear gas at locals protesting the closure.

A Palestinian youth was shot in the foot with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood, witnesses said.

On Wednesday evening, Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi, 21, rammed a car into pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing a three-month-old Israeli girl, Haya Zissel Braun.

He was shot by police at the scene and later died in hospital.

Footage of the incident posted on YouTube showed a car driving at full speed off the main road and down the pavement where people were standing as two trams passed each other.

Another clip shot on a cellphone showed the driver lying on the ground in a T-shirt and ripped jeans as a man pointed a gun at him.

Al-Shaludi’s 15-year-old brother was detained following the incident and released at dawn Thursday after being interrogated at the Russian Compound detention center.

In Silwan, where al-Shaludi is from, scores of police raided the family home, leading to clashes with local residents.

Four family members who went to visit him in Shaarei Tzedek hospital were arrested, a relative told AFP.

Jerusalem police on Thursday vowed “zero tolerance” towards any act of violence as they fanned out across the city.

“Jerusalem police emphasizes that it will demonstrate zero tolerance towards any incident of violence and will put its hand on anyone who disturbs public order in the city and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law,” Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)

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