JERUSALEM (JTA) — Arab men wearing masks attacked police and soldiers on the Temple Mount with rocks and firecrackers on the last day of a Muslim holiday and on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

The attacks came Sunday morning, hours after the main Israeli Arab leadership body, the Arab Monitoring Committee, called on Israeli Arabs to head to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to protect it against Jewish visitors.

Police used what they called “riot control measures” to bring the situation under control

Jews have been barred from the Temple Mount during the three-day Palestinian holy day Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice. Jews were to be barred from the site on Sunday as well, with no age restrictions placed on Israeli-Arab worshippers.

Rumors on Saturday night reported that right-wing groups would gather at one of the entrances to the Temple Mount for prayers Sunday and then try to enter the site, Ynet reported.

Arab protesters reportedly spent Saturday night in the Al Aqsa Mosque in order to prevent the Jewish visitors from entering the site on Sunday morning.

The Temple Mount and Jerusalem have been the scene of several violent clashes in recent weeks.

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