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Priests in Bethlehem come to blows in battle of the brooms

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  • Priests in Bethlehem come to blows in battle of the brooms

    DigitalJournal.com
    Dec 28 2011

    Priests in Bethlehem come to blows in battle of the brooms

    By Katerina Nikolas


    Bethlehem - The annual Christmas clean-up of the Church of Nativity in
    Bethlehem descended into a broom-fighting brawl between priests.

    In a scene more reminiscent of pantomime performance than religious
    peace, rival groups of Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests fought with
    broomsticks inside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity. Up to 100
    priests were involved in the fighting.

    AFP reported "For a quarter of an hour bearded and robed priests laid
    into each other with fists, brooms and iron rods ." None of the
    priests was seriously injured in the fighting.

    Problems regularly break out between the two groups as they argue over
    who should be responsible for maintaining the upkeep of the Church.
    The 1,700-year-old Church is one of the holiest sites in Christendom.
    Pictures of the fight provide great hilarity to other religious groups
    and amused tourists who were visiting the site.

    According to the BBC, Lt-Col Khaled al-Tamimi of the Bethlehem police, said
    "It was a trivial problem that... occurs every year. No one was
    arrested because all those involved were men of God."

    http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/316842


    From: Baghdasarian
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