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Greek Orthodox Official Asked Israel to Limit Visitors at Church Ceremony
(Times of Israel) Lazar Berman - Contradicting allegations that Israel Police unnecessarily infringed on Christian freedom of worship at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem during the Holy Fire ceremony on Saturday, a letter reviewed by the Times of Israel indicates that restrictions were imposed at the request of a Greek Orthodox official. The April 3 letter sent to the Israel Police by church architect Teo Metropoulos stresses that the maximum number of visitors for the ceremony should be 1,800 inside the building and 200 more in the courtyard. The letter emphasizes that "the only entrance to the church has an opening of 3 meters without any other dangerous [sic] exit," and asks police to keep all internal corridors open. Police said Thursday that the cap on crowd size was not their initiative. They said the limitation on attendance was a "necessary safety requirement" set by a safety engineer to prevent a potentially deadly stampede. Israel, which imposed similar restrictions on the event last year, said it wanted to prevent another disaster after a crowd crush at a packed Jewish holy site in 2021 left 45 people dead.