Several hurt in attack on Armenian church in Tbilisi

Several representatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church suffered in an organized attack on the Armenian church in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi, the Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church said.

“A provocation was organized around 4:00 pm on July 20 in the area adjacent to the church. A woman earlier parked her car in the area adjacent to the church yard. When she later could not reverse her car, she became exasperated and started reproaching a priest whose car allegedly prevented her from doing it. Two men arrived soon. They were in an aggressive mood and reversed the woman’s car. The priest entered the administrative building of the Armenian Diocese. The young deacons in the yard church heard one of the men using foul language against the Armenians. When they protested, the man got out of the car with a cudgel in his hand. He insulted again the Armenian Diocese representatives and attempted to hit them with a stone. Several employees of the Diocese approached them to defuse tension. Instead, one of Diocese employees was hit in the back and there was a brief scuffle.

About two hours after the incident, that man came back, accompanied by some 50 men most of whom were armed with cold weapons. They approached the church and began scuffling with priests and employees of the Diocese and making offensive remarks about Armenians. A baptismal ceremony was being held in the church at the time. The ceremony participants ran outside and were also attacked. Shocked by the incident, the women and children took shelter in the church.

A group of well-dressed people watched the scuffle. Several priests and employees of the Armenian Diocese received injuries. The assailants also ripped a cross off a priest’s neck and took it away.

We call upon Georgian law enforcement bodies to adequately assess these actions and investigate them as a crime committed out of ethnic and religious hatred.

Yesterday’s incident was, to some extent, a result of hatred stirred up against Armenians by some media outlets and unfortunately some representatives of the Georgian Apostolic Church. We urge the mass media to refrain from stirring up anti-Armenian feelings in society and we call on the top clergy of the Georgian Apostolic Church to publicly denounce any actions committed out of ethnic and religious hatred and preach Christian love and kindness.

We hold dear the internal stability and centuries-old interethnic and interreligious ties with Georgia and call on the Georgian authorities to take all the necessary measures to prevent an ethic or religious split within Georgian society,” the Diocese said in a statement.