A man was killed during clashes in an Arab city in central Israel late on Monday after protesters attempted to storm a police station, police said.
The death in the city of Kafr Qassem followed the arrest of a wanted man in a roadside inspection, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in a statement.
Residents tried to prevent the arrest by throwing stones at police but forces managed to take the suspect to a station.
During the night, rioting erupted, the statement said.
‘Masked residents attacked the local police station and as a result of a life-threatening situation, a private security guard fired shots.
‘A short while after, a local resident (taken) to hospital in serious condition died.’
The man was identified as Mohammed Taha, 21.
Kafr Qassem is home to around 20,000 residents, most of them Arabs, and is close to the so-called Green Line separating Israel from the occupied West Bank.
In 1956, Israeli forces killed 47 people while enforcing a curfew in the area.
In 2014, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin described the event as a ‘terrible crime’.
Arab Israelis are descendants of Palestinians who remained on their land after the 1948 creation of Israel.
They have full Israeli citizenship but have long complained of discrimination.
