Clashes as nationalists march in Israeli Arab town

Israeli police have clashed with Arab demonstrators in the northern town of Umm al-Fahm, where Israeli right-wing activists staged a protest march.

According to BBC News, police fired tear gas and stun grenades to try to disperse the protesters.

The Jewish activists are followers of a far-right movement, Kach, which believes Arabs should be expelled from Israel and the West Bank.

Dozens of people were wounded when clashes erupted during a similar march last year.

Tensions were running high in Umm al-Fahm after the Supreme Court authorised the march by the right-wing Israeli group through the mainly Israeli Arab town.

The activists say they want Israeli authorities to outlaw the Islamic Movement, whose jailed leader Sheikh Raed Salah comes from the town.

The movement, whose stated aim is to advocate Islam among Arab Israelis, offers education and social services and promotes a Palestinian nationalistic stance. Its northern supporters are generally more hardline than those in the south.

But the right-wing Israeli activists accuse the group of having links to Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Some 20 to 30 Jewish demonstrators travelled from Jerusalem to Umm al-Fahm under heavy police protection. They arrived in armoured buses, but were only allowed off briefly by police, and the march was largely symbolic, according to the source.