News - Armenian National Committee member: Heavy equipment removed from Jerusalem Armenian Quarter ‘Cows’ Garden’

The heavy equipment, which was earlier brought to the “Cows’ Garden” area of the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, was taken out Sunday. Hagop Sevan, a member of the Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun Party, told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am Monday. Sevan informed that the employees of the Jerusalem city hall also visited the area. He added that there were no incidents after the last attack on the demonstrators on December 28. "For now, the situation is calm, no new problems have arisen," Sevan said. On December 28, a group of masked persons—armed with sticks, tear gas-grenades, and some other means—had attacked the Armenians in the "Cows’ Garden" area of the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, had leased the area of “Cows' Garden” to a company for 99 years. This decision, however, caused strong opposition. And after long protests, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem decided to cancel this deal. But later, the bulldozers of the aforesaid company started demolishing a part of the disputed area. When Armenian demonstrators tried to stop these actions, armed Jewish settlers came and tried to disperse the demonstrators—but in vain.