Jerusalem: Police reinforcements were deployed in the Israeli city of Acre amid high tension between Arabs and Jews after clashes erupted when an Arab man was assaulted for driving during Yom Kippur.
"The situation is very tense in the city. Crowds have gathered in several neighbourhoods and police reinforcements have been deployed from yesterday night in order to avoid new clashes," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
Private Channel Two television said clashes between Jews and Arabs, which first broke out overnight, resumed on yesterday evening but Rosenfeld did not confirm the report.
But Rosenfeld said that the police used water cannons to disperse protesters and arrested four Jews. Earlier he said that eight Arab "troublemakers" had been arrested overnight.
The unrest erupted when an Arab motorist drove into a neighbourhood where Arabs and Jews live, playing his car stereo loudly as ceremonies marking Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, were underway, Rosenfeld said.
Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appealed for calm in a statement. "Peaceful co-existance between Jews and Arabs is essential. Everything must be done to allow the two communities to live side by side," Olmert said. But ultra-national lawmaker Arieh Eldad denounced what he called "Arab progroms".
"One should not be surprised if Jews arm take up arms to defend themselves while the police does nothing to protect them," Eldad said.
On Yom Kippur, observant Jews fast, pray and ask God to pardon their sins committed during the previous year. It is also on Yom Kippur that God judges Jews and determines their destiny, deciding who will live and who will die.
