The Israeli police have confirmed that they used "special means" to disperse hundreds of protesters in the town of Majdal Shams, located in the disputed Golan Heights, after members of the Druze ethnic minority gathered on Tuesday to protest the first Israeli municipal elections in the region since the Israeli occupation.
TEL AVIV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2018) The Israeli police have confirmed that they used "special means" to disperse hundreds of protesters in the town of Majdal Shams, located in the disputed Golan Heights, after members of the Druze ethnic minority gathered on Tuesday to protest the first Israeli municipal elections in the region since the Israeli occupation.Earlier in the day, Syrian state television reported that the police used tear gas, stun grenades and live bullets to quell the protests.
"Hundreds of people have gathered near polling places in the village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights in an attempt to interfere with municipal elections. In response to the public disorder, the police dispersed the crowd," the police said in a press release, adding that they had to use special means during the confrontation with protesters.
The police also said that all polling places in the town were open and that the elections were going as planned.
The disputed Golan Heights are located between Israel's northeastern border and Syria's southwest. Most of the Golan territory has been under Israel's control since the country occupied the area in 1967 and effectively annexed it in 1981.
In 1973, Israel and Syria along with Egypt became involved in another war, with one of the objectives being the recovery of the territories seized by Israel in 1967. Damascus and Tel Aviv signed a disengagement agreement to end hostilities in the Golan in 1974. The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force was deployed in the area that same year to help maintain the ceasefire.
A large number of the Druze living in the occupied Golan Heights refused to recognize Israel's control over the area and officially become the country's citizens.
