Tel Aviv - Three people were injured in a third night of Arab-Jewish rioting in the northern Israeli town of Acre, local media reported Saturday.

Nine people were arrested over night in disturbances that began after Jewish youths threw stones at Arab inhabitants of the city, which prompted stone throwing by Arab youths.

The worst Arab-Jewish clashes in years broke out around midnight Wednesday on the eve of the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday when an Arab resident who drove his car through a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood, playing loud music in an alleged provocation.

The driver denied entering the neighbourhood as a provocation, telling Israeli media he drove "slowly and carefully" to pick up his daughter from her fiance's home.

So far in the rioting, some 40 shops and 100 cars have been damaged, and a toward of 30 people have been arrested, 20 of whom are still in custody. (dpa)