Cars and stores were damaged as Jews and Arabs clashed in the Israeli city of Acre after an Arab man was assaulted for driving during Yom Kippur Oct. 9. The violence erupted around midnight, several hours after Jews began marking the Day of Atonement, when Israel comes to a virtual standstill. A group of Jewish youths assaulted an Arab man in his car, sparking rioting that resulted in extensive damage to dozens of cars and shops.
About one third of Acre's population of nearly 50,000 residents are Arab. Arab MPs have for years asked security forces to prevent Jews from stoning cars driven by Arabs on Yom Kippur. One of them, Abbas Zkoor, said such attacks occurred frequently. "Despite numerous complaints filed in police stations, officers were not sent to disperse the racist gatherings," Zkoor said. He called on religious authorities to condemn such attacks, which he said "surely contravenes the basic principles of the Jewish religion." (Middle East Online [2], Oct. 9)
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