Violence breaks out at Jerusalem holy site

Jerusalem: Hundreds of angry worshippers threw stones at police and scuffled with them on Friday in an eruption of outrage over contentious Israeli renovation work at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City.

About 200 police streamed on to the hilltop compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, to try to quell the violence, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Witnesses said police hurled stun grenades.

Several dozen protesters barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa mosque at the compound, which is Islam’s third-holiest site.