Dec 22, 2006, 12:07 GMT
Athens - Four black robed Orthodox monks who exchanged blows on Mount Athos in northern Greece, causing seven people to be rushed to hospital, have been banned from returning to the monastic community.
The injuries occurred Wednesday during clashes between rebel monks occupying the premises of the 1,000-year-old Esphigmenou Monastery and another group of monks appointed by authorities on Mount Athos to replace them.
The monks who were banned from setting foot at the monastery were among those taken to the hospital in the nearby town of Polygiros after a fight in which crowbars, pickaxes and fire extinguishers were used as weapons.
The Esphigmenou monks said via their website that they had been the victims of a 'brutal and unprovoked attack.' They claimed one of their members suffered a 'broken skull' during the clash.
Reports said the rebel monks at Esphigmenou Monastery tried to prevent the small group of legally appointed monks from constructing a new building at Karyes, the monastic community's administrative centre, from which all women are banned.
The group of ultra-Orthodox monks occupying the Esphigmenou Monastery staunchly oppose efforts to normalize relations between the Orthodox Church and Vatican officials.
Last year, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Vartholomaios, called upon the rebels to end their illegal occupation of the building and to return to the church and Mount Athos.
The 100 rebel monks have defied an eviction order from Greece's highest administrative court and have said they will continue their siege of the monastery.
Esphigmenou Monastery is one of 20 monasteries located on the Mount Athos peninsula, near Halkidiki, approximately 600 kilometres north-east of Athens.
Police chiefs in the area recalled the leave of all of its officers in Halkidiki during the Christmas holidays in order to step up the presence of security on Mount Athos due to fears of more clashes.
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