ISRAELI POLICE burst into one of Christianity's holiest churches yesterday and arrested two clergyman after an argument between monks erupted into a brawl next to the site of Jesus's tomb.
The clash broke out between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, revered as the site of Jesus's crucifixion, burial and resurrection.
It began as Armenian clergymen marched in an annual procession commemorating the fourth-century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus.
It ended with the arrival of dozens of riot policemen who separated the sides, seizing a bearded Armenian monk in a red-and-pink robe and a black-clad Greek Orthodox monk with a gash on his forehead. Both men were taken away in handcuffs.
Six Christian sects divide control of the ancient church. They regularly fight over turf and influence. The feud revolves around a demand by the Greek Orthodox to post a monk inside the Edicule - the ancient structure built on what is believed to be the tomb of Jesus - during the Armenian procession. The Armenians refused and, when they tried to march, the Greek Orthodox monks blocked their way.
Father Pakrat, of the Armenian Patriarchate, said the Greek demand was "against the status quo arrangement and against the internal arrangement of the Holy Sepulchre".
He said the Greeks attacked first.
After the brawl, the church was crowded with police holding assault rifles and wearing riot gear, standing beside Golgotha, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified.
The Israeli government wants to build a fire exit in the church, which holds thousands of pilgrims and has only one main door. However, the plan is on hold because the various sects cannot agree where the exit should be built. - ( PA)