MIDEAST-JERUSALEM/DRIVER FUNERAL Funeral held for Palestinian driver found hanged in Jerusalem bus

Record ID: 858118

  • Title: MIDEAST-JERUSALEM/DRIVER FUNERAL Funeral held for Palestinian driver found hanged in Jerusalem bus
  • Date: 17th November 2014
  • Summary: ABU DIS, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 17, 2014) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ===NIGHT SHOTS=== CROWD GATHERED FOR FUNERAL OF PALESTINIAN DRIVER WHO WAS FOUND HANGED IN HIS BUS MOSQUE MINARET MORE OF CROWD VARIOUS OF AMBULANCE ARRIVING VARIOUS OF BODY TAKEN OUT OF AMBULANCE ON STRETCHER AND INTO MOSQUE VARIOUS OF CROWD CHANTING SLOGANS OUTSIDE MOSQUE, WAVING FATAH AND HAMAS FLAGS ===DAY SHOTS=== POSTER WITH PICTURE OF DEAD PALESTINIAN NEAR DOME OF THE ROCK READING IN ARABIC "THE HERO MARTYR YOUSSEF AL-RAMOUNI" ISRAELI SECURITY FORCES DURING CLASHES WITH PALESTINIANS PALESTINIAN YOUTHS HURLING ROCKS PALESTINIAN YOUTH RUNNING, PETROL BOMB ON GROUND MORE OF PETROL BOMB ON GROUND ISRAELI SECURITY FORCES IN RAIN PALESTINIAN YOUTHS HURLING ROCKS IN RAIN MORE OF STREET DURING CLASHES
  • Embargoed: 2nd December 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAC0416KLX95INPBN3PGZJMMTO4
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Hundreds attended the funeral of a Palestinian bus driver who was found hanged in his vehicle on Monday (November 17), an incident that led to stone-throwing protests by Palestinians suspecting foul play but which Israeli police, citing autopsy results, termed a suicide.
    Youssef al-Ramouni, 32, was found dead at the start of the route he was supposed to have driven late on Sunday, in a district of Jerusalem close to Jewish settlements and Palestinian neighbourhoods.
    "The autopsy findings have shown that there was no foul play, meaning that this was a suicide," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
    Family members were not immediately available to comment on the medical results. Rumours spread quickly in the Palestinian media that Ramouni had been killed by Jewish assailants, stirring tension and violence.
    In Abu Dis, a Palestinian town on the outskirts of Jerusalem, shops closed after news of the driver's death and masked youngsters blocked roads with dumpsters. Dozens of youths threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who fired tear gas.
    Before the autopsy findings were announced, Ramouni's brother Louy told Reuters there was no way that Youssef, the father of two young children, would have killed himself.
    Ramouni's family requested a Palestinian pathologist be present at the autopsy but Rosenfeld said he was not aware whether one had observed the procedure.
    Over the past month, five Israelis and a foreign visitor have been killed by Palestinians - run over in vehicle-driven attacks or stabbed.
    About a dozen Palestinians have been killed, including those accused of carrying out the attacks.
    Residents trace the violence in Jerusalem back to July, when a Palestinian teenager was burned to death by Jewish assailants, an alleged revenge attack for the abduction and killing of three Jewish teens by Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.
    Other triggers have been the summer war in Gaza and a row over access to a Jerusalem compound sacred to Muslims and Jews alike.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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