BBC News
Published
"Civil war has broken out in Lod."
That is how Mayor Yair Revivo described the situation after violence exploded in the mixed Arab-Jewish Israeli town, lying 15km (9 miles) south-east of Tel Aviv.
Protests by Israeli Arabs in the town turned into full-scale riots on Tuesday night. Demonstrators clashed with police and set cars and buildings ablaze, the day after a funeral for a man allegedly shot dead by Jewish residents.
"This is a complete loss of control," Mr Revivo told Israel's Channel 12 News. "Synagogues are being burned. Hundreds of cars set alight... The situation is incendiary."
The mayor of the Israeli city of Lod, a mixed Arab/Jewish city southeast of Tel Aviv, just said on live TV “We have completely lost control of the city, and the streets are witnessing a civil war between Arabs and Jews."