Israeli police beat mourners at journalist’s funeral

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police moved in on a crowd of mourners at the funeral of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, beating demonstrators with batons and causing pallbearers to briefly drop the casket.

The crackdown came during a rare show of Palestinian nationalism in east Jerusalem, the part of the holy city that Israel captured in 1967 and that the Palestinians claim as their capital.

Witnesses say Abu Akleh was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank earlier this week. Her death has brought a wave of grief to the Arab world.

Mourners hoisted Palestinian flags and chanted “Palestine, Palestine.”

Police accused the crowd of incitement and violence and say officers were “forced to act.”