The Muslim Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City. Photo: Victor Grigas via Wikicommons.

A near-riot broke out in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday as tensions rose due to the large number of worshipers honoring Tisha B’Av, an annual day of Jewish mourning.

According to Israel’s Channel 2, the outbreak of violence occurred at the souk in the Muslim Quarter, where Jewish worshipers on the way to the Western Wall and local Muslim residents clashed. Police arrived quickly and separated both sides.

Tensions are often high in the Old City on major holidays. On Tisha B’Av, thousands of Jews visit the Western Wall in order to recite prayers of lamentation for the destruction of the Temple. One of the roads to the Wall runs directly through the city’s Muslim Quarter.

Channel 2 cited an eyewitness saying that a group of Jewish worshipers coming from the Temple Mount stopped in the souk in order to pray. One of the worshipers then apparently pushed a stall out of the way in order to pass through an alley, sparking a violent confrontation.