Father Aghan Gogchyan, Chancellor of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in a Facebook post today, says security guards of Xana Gardens Ltd., a company that the Patriarchate leased land to in 2021 to build a hotel, yesterday converged on the Armenian Quarter to protect the company’s interests following the Patriarchate’s announcement on November 1 that it was revoking the 99-year lease deal.

“Yesterday they even brought security guards armed with high powered rifles and tactically trained dogs demanding an evacuation of the Armenian presence in the parking lot. As a reaction to this, the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, members of the St. James Brotherhood, and members of the Armenian community, gathered in the Armenian Gardens and peacefully expressed their discontent,” Gogchyan writes.

Photo: Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian, members of the St. James Brotherhood and the Armenian community sitting in the disputed tract of land to protest the action.