Video: Incident in Jerusalem Between Jewish Extremists and Armenians – Details

In Jerusalem, there has been an attempt to climb onto the roof of the Armenian Patriarchate and remove the Armenian and Republic of Armenia flags, as well as two attacks on Armenians. This was reported on Facebook by the Chancellor of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Father Aghan Gocjan.

“On the evening of January 28, two Jewish extremists, while going along the Armenian Patriarchate street towards the Wailing Wall, initially tried to obstruct traffic, and then veering off the road, they struck the vehicle of Armenian youth returning home from work. The Armenian youths got out of the car and asked, ‘Why are you hitting our car? This is our neighborhood; we are returning home from work. We respect the Jews, why are you doing such things? What have we done to you?’

One of the Jewish extremists began to shout, ‘You have no neighborhood here! This is our country; leave our country!’ And when the Armenian youths responded, ‘This is also our country; our home is here; we were born here; we have nowhere else to go,’ the other extremist sprayed tear gas into the eyes of one of the Armenian youths, and both fled the scene. The Armenian youths attempted to pursue them to hand them over to the police, but the effects of the tear gas hindered them, and one youth was taken to the hospital by a friend.

After returning from the hospital, the Armenian youths filed a complaint with the police. The police identified the two Jewish extremists and arrested them. One of them was released in the morning, but the one who sprayed the tear gas remains in custody.

An hour after this incident, another group of Jewish extremists, while passing through the Patriarchate street on the way to the Wailing Wall, attempted to climb onto the roof of the Armenian Patriarchate to remove the Patriarchate's cross and the flag of the Republic of Armenia. At that moment, Armenian youths standing in front of the monastery noticed this and approached to prevent their actions; the extremists fled, only to return shortly after in a smaller, masked group.

The masked extremists again attempted to provoke a fight, spraying tear gas into the air towards the Armenian youths, insulting them and fleeing towards the police. The Armenian youths pursued them, and when the extremists saw that they were being chased, they yelled, ‘Terrorist attack! Terrorist attack!’

The police, believing the screams of the Jewish extremists were accurate, blocked the path of the Armenian youths, drew their weapons on them, and assaulted several of them. Among them, Gevorg Kahkejyan was arrested on charges of attacking a police officer, which had no basis in reality.

Gevorg Kahkejyan was held in police custody for one night. The next day, on January 29, after noon, through the direct intervention of His Eminence Archbishop Nurhan Manukian and a court decision, Gevorg Kahkejyan was released and placed under house arrest for 20 days. Since Gevorg Kahkejyan sustained injuries, at the request of the monastery's lawyer, the police allowed him to undergo a medical examination,” wrote the Chancellor of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.