Eyewitnesses, in their statement to AA correspondent, stated that Israeli police entered the Church of the Resurrection in the Old City of East Jerusalem, beat the guard of the Greek Consul General in Jerusalem and detained him.
While the reason for the guard’s detention is not yet known, eyewitnesses said that there was an argument between the guard and the Israeli police.
SOME CHRISTIANS WERE BLOCKED
Israeli police had blocked some Christians who wanted to attend the “holy fire” ritual at the Resurrection Church in Jerusalem, the main center of the celebrations today.
Christians in the Old City region of occupied East Jerusalem, which hosts holy places, gathered in the Christian neighborhoods of the ancient city with candles, wooden crosses, representative daggers and swords in their hands.
Orthodox Christians, including priests, walked to the area where the Church of the Resurrection in East Jerusalem, considered one of the holy places of Christianity, is located, accompanied by hymns and religious slogans, to participate in the “holy fire” ritual.
According to Christian belief, some Christians who wanted to attend the service held on the day when “Jesus Christ was crucified, died and was later resurrected” were prevented by the Israeli police in the narrow streets leading to the church.
The Israeli police, who blocked the roads leading to the church in the Old City of Jerusalem and did not allow Christians from abroad to pass, set up iron barricades and allowed only some clergy and a small number of Orthodox Christians to proceed to the church.
THERE WAS A BRAWLE
There were occasional verbal exchanges and fights between the Israeli police and people trying to reach the church.
The keys to the Church of the Resurrection, which has been a subject of conflict between various sects of Christianity throughout history, are found in two Palestinian Muslim families.
Sultan Abdülmecid handed over the keys of the church to two Muslim families from the Jerusalem elite in order to end the fight between Christians. Today, the church’s doors are still opened and closed by these Muslim families.
Source: AA
