Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Jerusalem Catholic schoolkids to march Friday in protest of Jesus statue vandalism

By Lazar Berman 21 March 2023, 5:35 pm Edit

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

A toppled statue in the Church of the Flagellation, in the Old City of Jerusalem, February 2, 2023. (Custody of the Holy Land)

A toppled statue in the Church of the Flagellation, in the Old City of Jerusalem, February 2, 2023. (Custody of the Holy Land)

In protest of the February vandalism of a statue of Jesus in the Jerusalem Old City, Catholic schoolchildren will march down the Way of the Cross on Friday morning wearing scarves with images of the statue’s desecrated face.

Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa will join the procession at the 7th station of the Via Dolorosa.

On February 3, a Jewish American man tore down a statue of Jesus in the Church of the Flagellation, the first station of the Via Dolorosa. The culprit was arrested by police.