The Temple Mount was closed to Jews Sunday morning, as Arab rioters attacked security forces and hurled stones.

Visitors attempting to ascend the Mount on Tisha B’Av, which marks the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, were barred, activists claimed, by Israeli police who said the holy site had been declared off limits to Jews in the wake of violent disruptions which had broken out.

More than 300 Jewish visitors toured the holy site prior to the rioting Sunday morning. Police say nine Jewish visitors were detained for “violating visitation rules”.

One of the detainees, a 20-year old man, was taken into custody on suspicion he had prayed during the visit. Two others allegedly say “Shema Yisrael” while on the Mount, also considered a form of Jewish prayer and therefore forbidden on the site.

As the alleged worshippers were detained and removed from the Temple Mount, Arabs gathered around the police and detainees.

“During the detention and removal of [the Jews] from the Temple Mount, Muslims began to gather and started shouting. Police [forces] pushed back the Muslims and escorted the group [of Jews] until they finished their tour and left the Mount.”

But activists who had ascended the Mount dispute the police claim, saying that once Arabs began harassing the Jewish visitors, the police removed the Jews from the Mount and shut down the site to further Jewish visitation.