Hundreds of Palestinians rioted outside Jerusalem on Friday morning to protest restrictions on Palestinian entry to the Temple Mount for Friday prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Palestinians hurled rocks and bottles at Border Police officers manning the Atarot and A-Ram checkpoints north of Jerusalem and two checkpoints south of Jerusalem.

The Border Police dispersed the Palestinians with rubber bullets, batons and stun grenades. There were no injuries reported.

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Police also detained six Palestinians.

Meanwhile, some 160,000 Muslims gathered at the Temple Mount for prayers around noon Friday.

MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) said the Israeli restrictions on prayer services at the Temple Mount violated freedom of religion and international law.

"Israel is impinging upon the freedom of worship and thereby callously violating international law," Tibi said.

Security forces are not allowing Palestinian men younger than 40 to participate in Friday prayers at the Temple Mount, fearing disturbances. The restrictions have been in place since Ramadan began three weeks ago, during which time police have also bolstered their presence in the Old City of Jerusalem over the past three weeks.

Jerusalem police commander Ilan Franco said Friday that the restrictions on West Bank residents were put in place for "security reasons" and added that no restrictions were placed on Israeli Arabs or East Jerusalem residents.

Franco said there had been similar incidents at checkpoints the last two Fridays, but that the protests this week were more intense.