Israel detains Christian monk, beats others in E. J'lem

File photo

Israeli police on Wednesday forcibly dispersed a demonstration by Coptic Christians in the courtyards of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in East Jerusalem’s Old City, according to eyewitnesses.

“Israeli police arrested a monk -- and beat several others -- during a demonstration held by Coptic Christians to protest the Israeli authorities’ refusal to allow them to renovate the Al-Sultan Monastery,” one witness, preferring anonymity, told Anadolu Agency.

The Deir al-Sultan is a Coptic Christian monastery located on the roof of the Holy Sepulcher.

In a statement, Jerusalem’s Christian National Assembly denounced the “barbaric attack by [Israeli] occupation forces on Coptic monks in the church’s courtyard”.

The statement quoted assembly head Dimitri Daliani as saying: “This attack… comes within the context of the ongoing persecution of non-Jews in the occupied city of Jerusalem”.

According to Daliani, the Israeli authorities recently sent a group of archeologists to “work inside” the monastery.

"The occupation authorities are trying to engage themselves in the affairs of the churches and impose control over the monasteries surrounding the Church of the Holy Sepulcher,” he asserted.

Local Muslim and Christian clerics complain that the Israeli authorities impose tight restrictions on the restoration of Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy sites.