Jerusalem, May 12, 2015
Residents of the Christian quarter of Jerusalem are becoming victims of attacks by extremists; this time not only were the shrines of the believers desecrated, but also their houses, reports the Linga portal.
On Tuesday, May 5, three Christian public organizations of Jerusalem – “Youths of the Christian Quarter”, “Development of the Christian Quarter Committee” and “the Seed of a Better Life” center published a joint statement in which they condemned the latest events occurred on the territory of the old city’s famous district. According to the human rights activists, a group of individuals made a barbaric raid on the Christian quarter. As a result, a monastery belonging to a jurisdiction of the Ethiopian Church was damaged together with a number of houses and shops belonging to Christians.
The extremists also vandalized a memorial cross that stood at the doors of the Ethiopian Metropolis office.
Despite the fact that it is not the first case of a raid by fanatics, the applicants are reporting new alarming details, “resembling the style of ISIS”. Thus, the attackers, already identified by the law-enforcement authorities, were yelling out curses addressed to “cross worshippers” and “tree worshippers”, which is “not typical for Palestinian society”, according to the experts.
For their part, the activists pointed to the inadmissibility of such demonstrations of interfaith and interethnic discord, “that serves the goals of certain individuals and parties.”
“We are under an unbelievable pressure from the residents of the quarter who have no desire to put up with injustices; that is why our opinion is that we by no means must ignore the above-mentioned incident. It is necessary that the respective structures and centers take the situation in the neighboring districts under their control, severely punishing those who are disrupting the bonds of our nation,” the organizations’ press services accentuated.