- Title: ISRAEL: Israelis set off firecrackers in church sparking violent riots
- Date: 5th March 2006
- Summary: WIDE VIEW OF CONVOY OF POLICE CARS LEAVING CHURCH AREA
- Embargoed: 20th March 2006 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVADW8XCBYUF9E00ZUFRISORZOOA
- Story Text: Three Israelis set off firecrackers inside an important Christian shrine in the Israeli Arab town of Nazareth on Friday (March 3), sparking panic among worshippers and a mass brawl outside.
One police car was torched as protesters tried to surge past police into the Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation to get at the three Israelis -- a man and two women. Police later removed the three and took them away for questioning.
Thirteen people were injured, most lightly, Army Radio said.
Israeli officials sought to quickly defuse anger and said security at churches and mosques would be stepped up. The incident was prompted by personal grievances the three had against the state, they said.
Police dispatched anti-riot and anti-terrorist units to the church. Local television showed them using batons and stun grenades to keep protesters back.
A brawl erupted outside after the firecrackers were set off.
Television reports said the man, a Jew, was a Jerusalem resident known to police and security services as having a history of threatening to attack churches.
While police said all three intruders were Jews, Israeli television said one of the women was Christian. Officials said one of the women was the Jewish man's partner.
Nazareth, in Israel's north, is the largest Arab town in the Jewish state. The incident lasted for more than two hours.
Arab community leaders would meet on Saturday (March 4) before joining a planned protest march in the town's streets.
An official at the Israeli prime minister's office said interim leader Ehud Olmert had spoken to Ezra and the chief of police and had ordered police to act with the utmost restraint.
The church is one of Christianity's most important sites in the Holy Land. It was undamaged, officials said.
Arabs make up about 20 percent of the Jewish state's population. Nazareth has a sizeable Christian community.
Israeli Arabs are descended from families who stayed while hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the 1948 war of the Jewish state's founding.
They complain of discrimination and say the government fails to give the same funding to their towns and schools as it does to the Jewish majority. Israeli officials deny the accusation.
The Church of the Annunciation is built above a sunken grotto where, according to Roman Catholic tradition, the angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that she was to bear Jesus. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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