Assessment: Scenes of police using force outside hospital, Shireen Abu Akleh’s casket almost toppling, draw widespread condemnation; cops says rioters had seized casket against family’s wishes …
Scenes of Israeli police rushing participants in the funeral of the late Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, using force against Palestinians who were carrying her casket outside a Jerusalem hospital and nearly toppling it, drew widespread condemnation on Friday, with the White House saying it was “deeply disturbing,” while the European Union said it was “appalled.”
The police said in a subsequent statement that it intervened because rioters took her casket at the hospital against her family’s wishes, and prevented it from being loaded onto a hearse, as previously agreed, for that part of the funeral procession.
Over ten thousand Palestinians paid their respects to Abu Akleh — killed during a firefight early Wednesday between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in Jenin — during a long, tense funeral procession that wound across the city from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood to the Mount Zion cemetery.
Follow up: The body of Shireen Abu Aqla arrived the church at Jaffa Gate.
Large number of Palestinians are currently marching from Saint Joseph Hospital and Jerusalem City toward Jaffa Gate.
High tension continues at Saint Joseph Hospital vicinity; More confrontations expected pic.twitter.com/R0BVCccn9n
— Local Focus – Security Alerts (@LocalFocus1) May 13, 2022
Read More @ Times of Israel HERE
