Aggressors Yell 'Death to Christians' Outside Jerusalem Restaurant Owned by Armenian

On January 26 in Jerusalem, approximately 30 to 40 Jewish extremists attacked a restaurant owned by Armenian Mihran Grigoryan, damaging property and yelling 'death to Christians' and 'death to Arabs.'

In an interview with News.am, restaurant owner Mihran Grigoryan said the incident occurred in the evening around 10:30 PM. The attack lasted about five minutes, resulting in no injuries, but property and dishes were damaged.

“The restaurant was quite crowded. The Jewish extremists stood in front of the restaurant and started yelling ‘death to Christians’, ‘death to Arabs’, and various insults. Then they began to overturn the tables and chairs set up in the outdoor area, throwing them at our staff. Our guys did their best to push them away until the police arrived and they started to flee,” said Mihran Grigoryan.

According to the restaurant owner, the extremists were prepared and had papers with slogans like 'death to Christians' and 'death to Arabs.' Grigoryan filed a complaint with the police that same night. He mentioned that two or three extremists had been detained and were expected to be released today.

“The police need to continue their actions to identify those responsible and hold them accountable, but the police haven’t contacted us yet aside from our complaint,” noted Mihran Grigoryan.

The restaurant owner also revealed that the incident did not end there; the extremist Jews began to attack online as well. After the incident, they started leaving negative comments on the restaurant’s Facebook page, trying to influence its rating.

Following this unpleasant situation, Mihran Grigoryan received numerous supportive messages and phone calls. “During the incident, customers were frightened and left, but today they returned and apologized for not closing their bills. We told them that the bills were closed, no need to worry. Today we had a large number of customers, and business is continuing normally; there has been significant demand today. Various people have also called to express their support,” said Mihran Grigoryan.

The restaurant owner also received calls from both the Greek and Latin patriarchates, which announced a protest will take place tomorrow, January 28, next to the restaurant.

“This is not the first time such behavior has been displayed by extremists. They systematically target non-Jewish residents. We need to file a complaint because after the elections, the Government has become somewhat extreme, oppressing minorities, damaging people’s property, and there are no accountable individuals. They always say that they could not identify this or that incident and close the cases,” said Mihran Grigoryan.

It is noteworthy that Jewish extremists had also written in Hebrew 'death to Armenians', 'death to Christians', and 'revenge' on the walls of the Saint James Church in Jerusalem on January 11. Provocations against the Armenian clergy in Jerusalem have always existed. There have previously been incidents where extremists spat on members of the Union, and there have been cases where incidents escalated into fights.