Brawl breaks out at sacred Christian site

Dozens of Greek and Armenian priests and worshipers exchanged blows at one of Christianity’s holiest shrines on Orthodox Palm Sunday, and used palm fronds to pummel police who tried to break up the brawl.

The fight at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the Jerusalem site where tradition says Jesus was resurrected, erupted when Armenian clergy kicked out a Greek priest from their midst, pushed him down and kicked him, witnesses said.

The Holy Sepulcher is shared by several Christian denominations according to a centuries-old arrangement known as the “status quo.” Each denomination jealously guards its share of the basilica, and fights over rights at the church have intensified in recent years.