Israeli police have stormed the square outside al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, one of Islam's holiest sites, to confront stone-throwing Palestinians in the latest outbreak of violence at the flashpoint shrine.
Police said they fired rubber bullets and tossed stun grenades after hundreds of Muslims leaving Friday prayers threw stones at security men and Jewish worshippers at Judaism's Western Wall below. Palestinians said police acted without provocation.
Police said they arrested nine Palestinians at the site, which Muslims call al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and Jews revere as the Temple Mount. A number of Palestinians are reported to be barricaded inside.
"Police forces stormed the Mount and pushed back the stonethrowers," a police spokesman said.
Mr Adnan Husseini, director of the Islamic Waqf, which oversees the compound, said at least four people were injured.
"No one threw stones," he said. "They [police] started doing this every Friday to scare elderly worshippers as younger ones are already banned. This is flagrant violation of freedom of worship."
A Palestinian uprising began in 2000 after Mr Ariel Sharon, Israel's opposition leader at the time and now prime minister, visited the compound, which is at the heart of the Israeli-Arab conflict. The Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site.
Israel seized East Jerusalem, including the ancient walled Old City - where the compound is located - in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as capital of the state they hope to establish.