At a Bethlehem church built over the manger where Jesus was alleged to have been born, two groups of “robed and bearded” Greek Orthodox priests and Armenian priests fought each other for over an hour “using fists, brooms and iron rods as weapons.” Seven people were injured in the brawl.
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.
Photographers who came to document the annual cleaning ceremony instead recorded the entire event.
