Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators clashed with police yesterday in pitched battles on the streets of occupied East Jerusalem after Israeli authorities limited access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. A police spokesman said seven members of the force, including two who needed hospital treatment, were injured by crowds of stone throwers close to the entrance of the walled Old City. "Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators tried to block traffic around the Old City and we were forced to use stun grenades after our appeals for people to disperse failed," police spokesman Shmulik Ben Ruby told AFP.Palestinian medical sources said at least 11 of the demonstrators had also been hurt after being beaten by police. The situation had been brought under control, he added, although AFP correspondents at the scene said hundreds of police remained in place. The police had been dispatched as part of efforts to restrict access to the mosque compound inside the walls of the Old City for fear of trouble by a Jewish extremist group which also tried to stage a banned demonstration. Some 5,000 Palestinian and Muslim Arab Israelis gathered in the esplanade, declaring themselves willing to lay down their lives to defend the site against any intrusion by the Jewish ultra-nationalist Revava group, said witnesses.