Extremists attack Armenians and Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem

• 01.30.2023, 11:38
•  Near East,  World,  Diaspora

Late in the evening of January 28, two Jewish extremists tried to obstruct the traffic on the Armenian Patriarchate street, then hit the car of Armenian young people returning home from work, Chancellor at the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Fr. Aghan Gogchian informs, Armradio.am reports.

The Armenians got out of the car and politely spoke and asked. “Why are you hitting the car, this is our neighborhood, we are coming home from work. We respect the Jews, why do you do such things? What have we done to you?”

One of the Jews started shouting. “You don’t have a neighborhood here. This is our country, get out of our country.”

And when the Armenian young man said: “This is also our country, our home is here, we were born here, we have nowhere else to go,” the other blew tear gas into the eyes of the Armenian and the two of them ran away.

The Armenians tried to chase the latter in order to hand them over to the police, but the tear gas did not allow them to do so and the men were taken to hospital by a friend.

After returning from the hospital, the Armenians filed a complaint with the police. The police questioned the two Jewish extremists and arrested them. One of them was released at dawn, but the one who blew tear gas is still under arrest.

An hour after this incident, another group of Jewish extremists, passing along the street of the Patriarchate, tried to climb the roof of the Patriarchate and remove the flags of the Patriarchate and the Republic of Armenia.

Armenian young people standing in front of the monastery noticed the attempt, approached and prohibited the actions of the Jewish extremists, the latter fled and soon returned in a smaller group, this time with masks on.

The masked extremists tried to provoke a fight again, they blew tear gas in the air in the direction of the Armenian youths, cursed the Armenians and fled in the direction of the police. The Armenian youths chased them, and when the latter noticed that, they started shouting “Terrorist attack, terrorist attack!”

The police, thinking that the shouts of the Jewish extremists were true, blocked the way of the Armenian men, held the weapons on them, beat some of them, and after arresting Gevorg Kahkejian, they took him to the police station, on the charges of attacked a police officer, which is not true.

George Kahkejian was kept in police custody for one night, the next day, January 29, after noon, with the direct intervention of His Holiness Patriarch Nurhan Manukian and the decision of the court, George Kahkejian was released and given 20 days of house arrest. And since George Kahkejian has physical injuries, the police, through the mediation of the monastery’s lawyer, allowed him to undergo a medical examination.