Israel police break up Coptic sit-in

Israeli police broke up at a sit-in Wednesday by Coptic monks in the forecourt of Jerusalem's Holy Sepulcher church in protest at a nearby monastery claimed by their sect.

"The police attacked us and forced us to leave the area," Orthodox Church spokesman Father Markos Al Orshalimy said following the protest in front of the site, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and buried.

Orshalimy said several monks had been lightly injured, while one was arrested and later released after the Egyptian embbady intervened.

Stock Footage on Social Media Shows Police Officers Holding A Monkey Down On The Ground

Other police officers could be seen unceremoniously ousting monks through a door on the side of the square.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed the arrest, saying the monks had been blocking workers from the building site.

Since Tuesday, about 30 Orthodox Coptic Monks have been holding a sit-in to block of reachers Deir as-Sultan, a monastery on the roof of the church.

The Coptic church claims ownership of the building, which Israel granted to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in 1970.

Orshalimy on Wednesday cited an Israeli short ruling from the following year, saying the site should be given back to the Coptic church, but which was never implemented.

Early this month, the Israeli government informed the Coptic Orthodox Church that it would carry out work in the building and that the Orthodox monks would not be allowed to oversee the work.

Orshalimy said the church would "continue to protest through local and international channels".

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.

The Holy Sepulcher Church is divided into several sections controlled by different.

It lies just a few hundred meters (yards) from flashpoint Muslim and Jewish holy sites, in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in a move never recognized by the international community.