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Chaos in Jerusalem: Arabs riot, ambulance hijacked

Police clashed with Arab rioters in eastern Jerusalem on Wednesday, with one man commandeering an ambulance in order to evade arrest.

By World Israel News Staff

On the heels of the shooting death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Arab demonstrators took to the streets in Beit Hanina, the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood where she lived, and other areas nearby on Wednesday afternoon.

Videos circulating on social media show a rapid deterioration into violence and bedlam, as protesters clashed with Israeli security forces and blocked major intersections in the city.

At least three people were arrested for throwing rocks and stones at passing motorists and police vehicles and on charges of public disorder.

In one chaotic scene from eastern Jerusalem, two Israeli police officers are seen trying to extract a rioter from a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance, which he had entered in order to evade arrest.

“Hezbollah is on the way!” Arab rioters can be heard taunting the police officers, as they struggle to pull the uninjured man out of the ambulance.

Rioters are seen attempting to slam the doors of the ambulance on the police officers’ limbs, in order to prevent them from arresting the man. Others throw water onto the police and scream at them.

During the video, heavy coughing is heard in the background, suggesting that pepper spray may have been deployed as a crowd dispersal method at the scene.

Suddenly, the ambulance is seen speeding away, as the two police officers and a Palestinian paramedic are violently thrown onto the asphalt from the open doors of the vehicle.

The crowd cheers and claps as the rioter makes his getaway, and another rioter is seen running on top of the roofs of cars stuck in traffic.

In a separate video from east Jerusalem, two young Jewish Israeli women are seen removing Israeli flags from their vehicle as they approach an intersection blocked by Arab rioters waving Palestinian flags.

The Arab woman filming the video is heard mumbling in Arabic and snickering at the young women, who presumably fear that displaying an Israeli flag on their vehicle in the nation’s capital would endanger them.

Another video from eastern Jerusalem shows an Israeli cop car displaying a Palestinian flag, which rioters had placed on it.

Palestinian officials have accused Israel of intentionally killing Abu Akleh, whose death occurred during a firefight between terrorists in Jenin and Israeli security forces. The Palestinian Authority is refusing to cooperate with Israel for a joint pathological investigation, choosing instead to publicly declare that the IDF deliberately shot her.

Israeli government and IDF officials said they believe Abu Akleh was actually killed by Palestinians, who were filmed firing indiscriminately shortly before her death.