By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST STAFF
A Beduin mob clashed with police in the southern village of Al-Mashash Tuesday afternoon, leaving around 20 people lightly to moderately wounded, including three women and a cameraman.
A number of policemen wounded after being hit by rocks.
The wounded Beduin women were evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.
Police arrested 14 people.
The clash began after Interior Ministry officials, accompanied by police, arrived in the Beduin village, located between Dimona and Beersheba, to deliver demolition orders to residents of illegally constructed buildings.
The officials were met and later assaulted by an angry mob, mostly men, whose faces were covered by scarves and t-shirts. Police sent for reinforcements. Stones were thrown at the policemen, who fired warning shots to deter the crowd.
Clashes between Beduin men and police are not uncommon in the Negev, where illegal construction is widespread.