Jerusalem Armenian Patriarchate Chancellor Father Aghan Gogchyan reports that on April 3 Israeli police assaulted Armenians, including the clergy, who had taken up positions in the Cows’ Garden section of the patriarchate to stop developers from entering.

Gogchyan, in a Facebook post, writes that the police also destroyed property belonging to the patriarchate.

Gogchyan claims the police presented no permits or court orders to local Armenians.

“We will continue to stand our ground and ask for Christians worldwide to spotlight these never-ending encroachments on the peaceful Armenian Christian community,” Gogchyan writes.

Last November, the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate of Jerusalem announced it had canceled a controversial July 2021 agreement to lease the Cows’ Garden section of the patriarchate to a hotel developer.

A week later, security guards of Xana Gardens Ltd., the company that the Patriarchate leased land to in 2021 to build a hotel, converged on the Armenian Quarter to protect the company’s interests following the Patriarchate’s announcement that it had pulled out of the deal.

Jerusalem Armenians have periodically gathered in Cows’ Garden to voice their opposition to the hotel development plan.