16 arrested in Nazareth protests against IDF action in Gaza
Thousands take the streets, hundreds throw rocks at police who respond with tear gas, stun grenades.
The rioters had also blocked off a main road through the city and besides the arrests, police responded to the violence with tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
The protest was organized by The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab citizens of Israel who had previously announced a general strike on Monday for the entire Arab sector in solidarity with residents of Gaza.
Israelis in favor of the IDF's military action in the Strip also made an appearance Monday evening when some 200 people showed support in front of the Kiryah army headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Monday's protests in Nazareth follow more than a week of street violence in Israel and the West Bank, but also across the region and even in large cities across the world.
Several hundred pro-Palestinian protesters came together Monday and demanded a halt to military action in Gaza during a peaceful protest near the Israeli embassy in the Cypriot capital.
Monday's protest was organized by left-wing trade unions and peace groups and included Turkish Cypriot activists from the ethnically divided island's breakaway north.
Riot police standing behind a cordon of barbed wire-topped fences prevented marching protesters from approaching the embassy's entrance.
Some protesters burned a hand-painted Israeli flag.
Organizers condemned the bloodshed in Gaza and urged the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop the fighting.
Additional protests also erupted in recent days in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon while the streets of Paris were scarred by street violence in which pro-palestinian activists burnt tires, overturned vehicles and threw rocks at police.
Pro-Israel rallies were also held in recent days in London and elsewhere in shows of support for Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip which the Israeli government says is meant to eliminate smuggling tunnels that have been used by terrorists in recent days to infiltrate the country.
