On Saturday night, in the middle of the reading of Eicha, the Book of Lamentation, that is read on the night of Tisha B’Av, the Arab muezzin began blasting out Islamic prayers on the microphone in the mosque the Arabs built on top of the Jewish holy site of the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
Access to the Tomb of the Patriarchs is shared by the Muslims and Jews, each getting separate hours and days, depending on the holidays and day of the week.
It was not the time for Islamic prayers, and the muezzin put the volume on maximum, which put a complete stop to Jewish nighttime reading of Lamentations, which is read in remembrance of the destruction of the two Jewish Temples in Jerusalem.
Jewish worshipers called the police, who did nothing, until Jewish youths then locked the muezzin in his room, so he couldn’t leave.
At which point police arrived and clashed began between the Israeli police and… the Jewish worshipers.
Police arrested a number of Jews.
