Police, protesters scuffle at Israeli extremist march

Police used water cannons and tear gas Tuesday to disperse Israeli-Arabs protesting against a march of Jewish extremists on the outskirts of a northern Israeli town.

Israeli-Arab youths threw rocks at heavily armed riot police who had formed a barrier near the entrance to the predominantly Arab town of Umm el-Fahm.

Some of the protesters carried Palestinian flags and covered their faces with checkered Palestinian scarves.

Police said 16 officers were injured and 10 protesters were arrested in scuffles that broke out following the march. The town's mayor said another 15 protesters were slightly injured.

Earlier, a group of Israeli extremists, led by Jewish National Front party leader Baruch Marzel, carried large Israeli flags and marched towards the town.

The group argued the march was an issue of freedom of expression, saying they should be able to carry an Israeli flag through any town, said CBC reporter Margaret Evans, who was at the event.

"We came to say that the state of Israel is a Jewish state. We came in a show of loyalty and to say whoever is loyal, welcome. But people who flout the law should get out of here," said Itamar Ben-Gvir, a Jewish ultra-nationalist who helped lead the event.

Critics called the march a provocation.

Police escorted the Jewish demonstrators back onto their armoured buses when the march ended.

The police stationed some 3,000 officers in town, fearing clashes.

Relations between Jews and Arabs have worsened in recent months following the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and general elections last month that saw Yisrael Beiteinu, a party with an anti-Arab platform, win 15 seats. The party called to revoke the citizenship of Arabs disloyal to the Jewish state.

Israel's one-fifth Arab minority is made up of ethnic Palestinians.