Settlers riot over removal of shacks

BEIT EL, West Bank, June 9 (UPI) -- West Bank police say they arrested four settlers after violence broke out during the removal of two shacks that violated the moratorium on Jewish construction.

Eight police officers and 38 settlers were slightly injured at the Beit El settlement Tuesday when settlers tried to prevent police and civil administration workers from taking down the shacks, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Moti Shoshan, deputy commander of the Binyamin police station, told the Post one youth called him a Nazi.

Police had to use pepper spray and clubs after scores of teens tried to prevent security vehicles from leaving with the four settlers who had been arrested.

Shoshan said the teens hurled big rocks and blocks at officers.

"If an officer had been hit on the head, he would have been seriously injured," Shoshan said.

Rioters reportedly were encouraged to confront police by the settlement's rabbi.