Jerusalem, Israel - Angry Arab protestors mobbed the Greek Orthodox patriarch during a religious procession in Jerusalem's Old City, enraged over a scandal involing the alleged sale of politically sensitive land to Jewish investors.
As hundreds of Christian pilgrims waving palm branches flocked to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Orthodox Palm Sunday, scores of Arab Christians joined the crowds, booing and shouting "Shame on you" as Patriarch Irineos I left the basilica following a three-hour service, an AFP correspondent said.
Shouting angrily in Arabic and Greek, they waved posters bearing slogans denouncing Irineos, one of which read: "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" in reference to the betrayal of Jesus by one of his disciples just before he was crucified.
Surrounded by scores of Israeli riot police, the 65-year-old patriarch waved feebly as scores of protestors tried to push towards him, one of whom lobbed a bottle of water at him.
Scuffles broke out between the protestors and between several visiting Greek Orthodox pilgrims carrying Greek flags, who tried to tear down the posters and stop the demonstration.
The Greek Orthodox patriarchate of Jerusalem was thrown into crisis in mid-March after an Israeli newspaper reported that the church had sold a large tract of politically-sensitive land in the Old City to ideologically-motivated Jewish investors.
Irineos has repeatedly denied involvement in the reported sale, which has yet to be verified, but the scandal has provoked fury among the church's mostly Arab flock who have called on him to stand down.