Jerusalem - Maan Report - For the sixth Friday in a row, the occupation authorities prevented worshipers from arriving to Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform prayers, with the exception of the elderly, while they tried to prevent prayers in the streets, and suppressed them with gas bombs, waste water, beatings and pushing.
The Islamic Endowments Department explained that 4,000 worshipers performed Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The occupation authorities imposed strict restrictions on the Old City and Al-Aqsa, since the dawn hours of today, by deploying extensively in the streets and erecting barriers in all the streets and roads leading to Al-Aqsa, and stationed at the gates of the Old City and Al-Aqsa.
The forces tightened inspection procedures and identity checks for all those arriving to the mosque. These measures prevented hundreds of thousands of worshipers from reaching the mosque, and Al-Aqsa’s courtyards and prayer halls appeared empty of worshipers except for elderly men and women.
The forces beat the worshipers as they tried to enter and pray at Al-Aqsa, and forcefully removed them from its doors.
In the neighborhoods of the city near Al-Aqsa, the forces chased the worshipers and prevented them from continuing their walk towards Al-Aqsa. In the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood, they attacked them with gas bombs and sprayed the streets with waste water to prevent praying on the asphalt. In the Ras Al-Amoud neighborhood, the forces removed the worshipers to prevent them from praying in the street, so they insisted on praying on the street. middle of the road.
In the Wadi al-Jouz neighborhood, the worshipers who were prevented from reaching Al-Aqsa insisted on praying on the street.
After the prayer ended, the young men chanted takbirs and shouted slogans in support of the Gaza Strip.
In the afternoon hours, confrontations broke out in the Wadi al-Jouz neighborhood, and forces stormed the neighborhood in large numbers and threw tear gas bombs and waste water in abundance in the streets of the neighborhood.
One of the worshipers said: “More than 7 checkpoints from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood all the way to Al-Aqsa, and at the gate of Al-Aqsa, they beat, suppressed, and prevented the elderly (70 and 80 years old). They were also prevented from entering. Strict restrictions and procedures were imposed on all those arriving to Al-Aqsa.”
A young man in his thirties said: “We prayed in the streets, trying to reach Al-Aqsa, and if we were prevented, we prayed at the nearest point, despite the oppression, beatings, and arrests.”
Source: Maan News Agency