Palestinians detained after boarding Jerusalem bus

Six Palestinian protesters, who boarded a bus bound for Jerusalem, have had their journey brought to an abrupt end.

The group, calling themselves “Freedom Riders,” were detained by Israeli police after getting on the vehicle meant for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.

They had hoped to emulate American civil rights activists who rode together on buses in the 1960s to challenge racial segregation.

“They wanted to take us off the bus and they used force,” one activist said before the group was detained.

The protest, streamed live over the internet, came after attempts earlier in the year by sympathisers to sail to the blockaded Gaza strip and to hold fly-in demonstrations at Israel’s main airport.

The action was taken to try to drum up support for the Palestinian cause.

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