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Comments:  245
Last update - 09:18 10/10/2008
Police spread across Acre in tense wake of Arab-Jewish riots
By Jack Khoury, Nadav Shragai and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: Israel News, Yom Kippur, Acre 

An Israel Police source said on Thursday that the police had no prior intelligence about the possibility of clashes between Jewish and Arab residents in the northern town of Acre, which erupted on the eve of Yom Kippur on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, police forces deployed in large numbers throughout the city on Friday in an effort to repress any residual violence.

The riots, some of the worst the city has seen in years, began around midnight on Wednesday after an Arab resident of the Old City of Acre drove his car into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in eastern Acre, where he said he lived.
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Jewish teens at the scene said the Arab man was deliberately making noise and smoking cigarettes. The teens attacked the man and shortly afterward, a group of Arab teens arrived at the scene, igniting a riot.

When news of the incident spread, a crowd of Arabs began to gather along the main commercial street in the new city, Ben Ami Street. Dozens of cars and shops along the street were vandalized.

Police faced off against hundreds of Jewish rioters chanting "death to Arabs" and trying to block the city's main thoroughfare. Border Police and officers on horse-back meanwhile tried to prevent the rioters from reaching the city center, where hundreds of Arab rioters had gathered.

Arabs and Jews hurled rocks at each other at the Acre train station and police used water hoses and tear gas to disperse them. In the Old City, Arabs threw stones and burned tires. Two people were reported injured, one by a police horse and the other by a stone to the head.

Police summoned reinforcements from other districts earlier Thursday in anticipation of a renewal of the violent clashes. Hundreds of police are now stationed in the city.

Police Commissioner David Cohen met Thursday in Acre with Mayor Shimon Lankry and lawmakers David Azoulay (Shas) and Abbas Zkoor (United Arab List-Ta'al), who live in Acre. "The goal now is to restore quiet," Cohen said. "I call on both sides to continue coexistence as it has been for years. Public leaders should work to bring quiet and order," he added.

The police source also noted that violence between Jews and Arabs stems from gaps in infrastructure and services between the two communities, and is the responsibility of the state but often lands in the "police emergency room."

Police conduct during the Acre violence will be scrutinized in the coming days. During violence in October 2007 in the Upper Galilee town of Peki'in over the installation of a celular antenna, a police inquiry committee found that the Northern District had failed in its response.

Acre police chief Avi Edri told Haaretz that the initial incident was an isolated one that escalated due to the involvement of Jewish and Arab gangs.

So far, a number of suspected rioters have been arrested and police say they plan to detain more suspects. "We will deal with all the rioters and those who take the law into their own hands with an iron fist," said Chief Superintendent Edri.

In a letter to Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, Zkoor wrote that police should be deployed around Jewish towns on Yom Kippur to prevent Jews from stoning cars driven by Arabs. Dichter's office on Thursday confirmed receipt of Zkoor's letter. "Without reference to his letter, police have deployed this year, as every year, with reinforcements ahead of the holidays and particularly Yom Kippur."

Zkoor warned on Thursday that it will be very difficult to hold the upcoming annual Acre theater festival in the Old City. He also warned of clashes during Sukkot in the mixed Arab-Jewish Wolfson neighborhood.

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      1.   Jewish youths were not in the synagogue? 09:25  |  Hastaroth 09/10/08
      2.   What is the difference between Switzerland and Israel ???? 09:30  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      3.   Stoning in yom kipur!! how religious?? 09:45  |  Tareq 09/10/08
      4.   Idiot Dino,only difference between Israel and Switzerland falls 09:50  |  Absolute Sweden 09/10/08
      5.   Not really holy behaviour on the holiest day in Judaism 09:53  |  Aaron 09/10/08
      6.   #2 Dino 09:58  |  D 09/10/08
      7.   Re Swiss #2 10:13  |  Esther 09/10/08
      8.   Swiss 10:15  |  Charles 09/10/08
      9.   Back to the Middle Ages 10:16  |  Jeremiah 09/10/08
      10.   # 4 Absolute Sweden # 6 D # 7 Esther, of course..... 10:30  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      11.   #2 Go buy a "swatch". 10:34  |  Papi 09/10/08
      12.   Or if you want me to put it in other words...... 10:51  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      13.   #2 thats a difference ur proud of? 10:57  |  izzy d 09/10/08
      14.   absolute sweden 4 10:58  |  potobac 09/10/08
      15.   #2 and #10 Dino 11:04  |  D 09/10/08
      16.   Violent idiots will always find a good reason to be violent. 11:14  |  Northern 09/10/08
      17.   Swiss #10... total ignorance nevertheless... 11:22  |  Esther 09/10/08
      18.   Please show a little respect 11:28  |  Yacob the Scientist 09/10/08
      19.   Swiss Dino, (cold fish) when do you react with passion? 11:33  |  Israeli citizen 09/10/08
      20.   Absolute Sweden is the idiot 11:42  |  shlomo 09/10/08
      21.   # 15 D, yes, it`s true, there are "hotheads" everywhere.... 11:48  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      22.   2: That would be Israel`s history of religious tolerance 11:57  |  David Teich 09/10/08
      23.   It has nothing to do with Arab V Jew 11:58  |  David Teich 09/10/08
      24.   Hmmm 12:09  |  Luther 09/10/08
      25.   Swiss Swiss ignorance is bliss 12:20  |  uri 09/10/08
      26.   Theocracy? 12:23  |  Uri 09/10/08
      27.   shlomo accepting torching of shops by arabs,go to John Simpson of 12:25  |  Absolute Sweden 09/10/08
      28.   Any excuse to batter arabs! 12:30  |  gearoid 09/10/08
      29.   With respect to Swiss Dino, 12:49  |  Robert Haymond 09/10/08
      30.   For those who might not have "gotten" it...... 12:50  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      31.   # 13 izzy, don`t you get my point........ 13:02  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      32.   # 19 Israeli citizen, make no mistake, we Swiss can be...... 13:08  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      33.   the annual gaza feeling 13:13  |  Juicet 09/10/08
      34.   # 22 David, there is only one mayor difference..... 13:14  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      35.   #20 Shlomo #21 Dino 13:17  |  D 09/10/08
      36.   # 25 uri, just curious...... 13:33  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      37.   #12 Swiss(Dino) 13:50  |  Moshe 09/10/08
      38.   #21 Swiss(Dino) 14:01  |  Moshe 09/10/08
      39.   # 29 Robert Haymond 14:14  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      40.   Comments in Kippor 14:18  |  Hope 09/10/08
      41.   # 35 D 14:20  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      42.   Secular Uri in Tel Aviv 14:20  |  Shlomo 09/10/08
      43.   Swiss live their passion as Fritzl in Germany 14:21  |  Israeli citizen 09/10/08
      44.   # 37 Moshe 14:29  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      45.   Another example of a violent civil conflict in Middle East 14:29  |  Rafi 09/10/08
      46.   # 38 Moshe, of course I am fully aware of our responsibilities... 14:43  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      47.   # 43 Israeli citizen, it probably won`t make a big difference.... 14:47  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      48.   Happy New Year 14:47  |  Mike 09/10/08
      49.   To Yakob the Scientist 14:50  |  rm 09/10/08
      50.   What is the difference between Switzerland and Belgium ???? 14:55  |  Rani Habelgi 09/10/08
      51.   Youths without a clue 15:07  |  Mark Lincoln 09/10/08
      52.   #40 Hope....During Ramadan, there were a lot of explosions 15:15  |  Lynn 09/10/08
      53.   Response to 18 15:21  |  Don 09/10/08
      54.   to # 52, Lynn 15:53  |  Hope 09/10/08
      55.   No Swiss, Fritzl growed in Nazi controlled territory 16:09  |  Israeli citizen 09/10/08
      56.   Deportation 16:11  |  Ron 09/10/08
      57.   swiss dino 16:41  |  John 09/10/08
      58.   this simply points oout jewish hypocrisy 16:55  |  rabble rouser 09/10/08
      59.   Hey Dina 17:00  |  Dave 09/10/08
      60.   34: Dino`s lying again 17:29  |  David Teich 09/10/08
      61.   Difference between Switzerland and Israel? 17:41  |  Arie 09/10/08
      62.   So much for "democracy" 17:44  |  Cromagnon 09/10/08
      63.   # 15 d 17:51  |  Axel 09/10/08
      64.   Such things never happen in Israel... 17:51  |  BBSNews 09/10/08
      65.   moshe in rockville 18:03  |  potobac 09/10/08
      66.   moshe in rockville 18:06  |  potobac 09/10/08
      67.   Dino: The Differences 18:06  |  Brad 09/10/08
      68.   # 50 Rani Habelgi 18:12  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/10/08
      69.   #42 Misguided Shlomo