The cradle of Christianity was rocked by an unholy punch-up when Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests came to blows in a dispute over how to clean Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity.
As you can see by the above picture, the battle lines were certainly drawn. I’m really not sure who I would have been backing, but regardless would have loved to be a spectator.
The brawl apparently began when Greek Orthodox priests set up ladders to clean the walls and ceilings of their part of the church after the Christmas Day celebrations.
Armenian priests claimed that the ladders encroached on their portion of the church, which led the two sects to exchange angry words which quickly turned to blows.
I totally understand how they feel, I used to have almost the exact same problem with my sister in the back seat of my parents car. Despite the middle seat being empty and elbow or something was always creeping over onto my side.
Witnesses said that the robed and bearded priests scuffled for more than an hour using fists, brooms and iron rods as weapons.
So much for love thy neighbour. And Iron Rods? Very ghetto, where exactly did these come from? Thankfully no one managed to pull the pitchfork from the hay in the stable in the nativity!
Five priests were lightly injured in the melee, which was eventually broken up by a dozen unarmed Palestinian policemen. Two of the policemen were hurt in ending the brawl.
“Lightly Injured”, well, I guess these guys are lovers and not fighters after all. Just it does seem strange that in an hour of fighting only five of them were injured, yet in breaking it up 2 cops were injured. These guys need some anger management courses!
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