(Adds details) By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Police used tear gas and water cannon to try and stamp out clashes between Jews and Arabs in Israel's northern coastal city of Acre on Thursday, officials said. Israeli television showed smashed shop fronts and damaged cars in the city, where Jews and Arabs live close together, but no major casualties were reported. Arab witnesses said the clashes began when Jewish youths stoned a car carrying Arabs late on Wednesday during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Police set up road blocks to keep the two sides apart and helicopters flew over the ancient port. Local Arab Israeli parliamentarian Abbas Zakkour said dozens of people were injured by tear gas canisters and that some had been taken to hospital for treatment. "We must guard vigilantly the ability to live together in co-existence in these towns," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a statement. Police said clashes broke out twice and that eight Arabs and four Jews had been detained. Traditionally during Yom Kippur all vehicle traffic, except for emergency services, stops in Jewish parts of Israel. Israel's Arabs number about 1.5 million, about 20 percent of the population. They are descended from families that stayed while hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the 1948 Independence War. They complain of discrimination and say the government fails to give the same funding to their towns, schools and other infrastructure as it does for Jews. Israeli officials deny any discrimination and note there are Arab parliamentarians. Relations between the communities are mostly calm, although occasional breakdowns have occurred over the years, most recently in October 2000 when police killed 13 Arabs while trying to halt violent demonstrations. The demonstrations were launched in support of Palestinians at the start of their 2000 uprising against Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in September 2005. (Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Writing by Douglas Hamilton and Ori Lewis; Editing by Ralph Gowling)
A woman washes clothes in polluted Ciliwung river in a slum area in central Jakarta in this October 3, 2008 file photo. It's one of the fastest-growing megacities in Asia. But ...
