The funeral of a slain Palestinian American journalist descended into chaos Friday after Israeli security forces stormed and beat the crowd carrying her coffin, which was at one point dropped by the pallbearers.

Thousands gathered in Jerusalem for the emotionally-charged funeral of Shireen Abu Akleh, the veteran Al Jazeera journalist who witnesses say was killed by Israeli forces’ gunfire in the occupied West Bank this week.

Her death prompted an outpouring of grief and global outrage.

Video from the scene Friday showed crowds of chanting mourners attempting to carry the beloved reporter's coffin out of a hospital in east Jerusalem toward a Catholic church.

Dozens of Israeli police could be seen confronting the crowd before moving in, beating some people with batons and causing mourners to run for safety. In the chaos, pallbearers briefly dropped the casket as several loud explosions could be heard.

Israeli security forces confront Palestinian mourners carrying the casket of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh out of a hospital Friday in Jerusalem. Ahmad Gharabli / AFP - Getty Images

In a statement, Israeli police said they arrested six people for allegedly violating public order and attacking officers.

Police accused “hundreds of rioters” of disrupting public order before and during the funeral by chanting nationalist slogans and throwing stones at them.

Police had to “disperse and repel” the crowds as well as make arrests, the statement said, “in order to allow the funeral to take place legally.”

But the police were condemned by Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the National Initiative Movement political party, who called their actions a “brutal assault.”

Police later allowed the family to drive the casket to a Catholic church in the Old City, which was packed with mourners, before sealing off the hospital and firing tear gas at scores of protesters inside, according to The Associated Press.

[url]https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/slain-al-jazeera-journalist-shireen-abu-akleh-laid-rest-jerusalem-rcna28678 [/url]