Palestinians argue with an Israeli policeman blocking a road leading to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound during a protest against Jewish groups visiting the compound and against preventing Palestinians from entering the shrine on Sunday in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Israeli police said Sunday they had arrested 39 Palestinians in the West Bank and east Jerusalem after days of protest and clashes over the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Palestinians were targeted on Friday by Israeli security forces in Jerusalem and several cities in the occupied West Bank, in a “day of rage” to protest an increase in Jewish visitors to Islam’s third-holiest site.

Jews, in an act of provocation, visited the site in Jerusalem’s Old City for the start of the Jewish New Year last Sunday, sparking days of clashes between Muslims and Israeli police on and near the plaza that houses the famous golden Dome of the Rock shrine and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Police said they had arrested 12 Palestinians in the West Bank and 27 in annexed east Jerusalem over the previous two days for “disturbing the peace,” “taking part in riots” and “throwing stones and Molotov cocktails.”

A controversy has meanwhile been growing over the treatment by Palestinian police of protesters in the 17 percent of the West Bank that they control, after a video was uploaded showing police beating a protester on Friday in Bethlehem.

The video shows half a dozen policemen beating and kicking a young man on the ground.

The Palestinian government said Friday it would open an investigation into the incident, with prime minister Rami Hamdallah calling it “an unacceptable act” and promising to “hold its perpetrators accountable.”

A government source who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the video was “very damaging to the Palestinian Authority.”