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FIGHT ERUPTS IN JERUSALEM CHURCH
BBC NEWS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/m iddle_east/7357496.stm
2008/04/20 15:18:13 GMT
Israeli police had to break up a fist fight that erupted between Greek
and Armenian Orthodox clergymen at one of Christianity's holiest sites.
The scuffles broke out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
on Orthodox Palm Sunday.
Brawls are not uncommon at the church, which is uneasily shared by
various Christian denominations.
In this case, witnesses say an Armenian priest forcibly ejected a
Greek priest from an area near the tomb of Jesus.
They say the attacker felt the Greek priest had spent too long at
the tomb.
When police arrived to break up the fight, some were reportedly beaten
back by worshippers using palm fronds.
Two Armenians were detained by police, prompting supporters to stage
a rally in protest outside the police station.
Rivalry between the six different churches which grudgingly share
the Holy Sepulchre dates back to the aftermath of the crusades, and
to the great schism between Eastern and Western Christianity in the
11th Century.
Each denomination controls, and jealously guards, its own section of
the labyrinthine site.
BBC NEWS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/m iddle_east/7357496.stm
2008/04/20 15:18:13 GMT
Israeli police had to break up a fist fight that erupted between Greek
and Armenian Orthodox clergymen at one of Christianity's holiest sites.
The scuffles broke out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
on Orthodox Palm Sunday.
Brawls are not uncommon at the church, which is uneasily shared by
various Christian denominations.
In this case, witnesses say an Armenian priest forcibly ejected a
Greek priest from an area near the tomb of Jesus.
They say the attacker felt the Greek priest had spent too long at
the tomb.
When police arrived to break up the fight, some were reportedly beaten
back by worshippers using palm fronds.
Two Armenians were detained by police, prompting supporters to stage
a rally in protest outside the police station.
Rivalry between the six different churches which grudgingly share
the Holy Sepulchre dates back to the aftermath of the crusades, and
to the great schism between Eastern and Western Christianity in the
11th Century.
Each denomination controls, and jealously guards, its own section of
the labyrinthine site.