Pilgrims Mark Good Friday in Jerusalem : Religion: Thousands of Christians crowd the tense Old City the day after Greek Orthodox protesters were tear-gassed.

Under heavy security a day after Greek Orthodox protesters were tear-gassed, Christian pilgrims from around the world carried wooden crosses through Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus.

The traditional Good Friday procession along the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrow, was jammed with thousands of people praying and singing. The narrow street echoed with chants in Greek, English, Spanish, Italian and Arabic.

Israeli police had fired tear gas Thursday to break up a demonstration by Greek Orthodox clerics protesting the establishment of a Jewish settlement in the Christian Quarter. The Greek Orthodox patriarch, Diodorus I, was among those tear-gassed.

On Friday, Jewish militants from a yeshiva, or seminary, continued to cart their belongings into the disputed building near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the basilica that covers the traditional tomb of Jesus. The church, one of Christianity’s holiest sites, is on the route trod by Good Friday pilgrims.

A Palestinian flag, hung overnight by Arab activists, flew throughout Good Friday from the cross atop the church. Palestinian flags are outlawed in Israel.

Scores of police and paramilitary border troops armed with assault rifles and tear-gas grenades patrolled the church site and the rest of the Old City, but no major incidents were reported Friday.

The Old City is divided into jealously guarded ethnic quarters that are home to about 50,000 Muslims, 7,000 Christians and 4,000 Jews.

The city was especially crowded this year because the Christian Holy Week coincides with both the Jewish Passover holiday and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. All three faiths have religious sites in the Old City.

In Rome, Pope John Paul II issued a new appeal for a halt to the fighting between rival Christian forces in Lebanon, saying negotiation is the only solution to that country’s conflicts.

“The drama of Lebanon must end. . . . Lebanon must live again,” the pontiff said in a Good Friday message to the Maronite Catholic patriarch, Nasrallah Sfeir.

His telegram came on the 15th anniversary of Lebanon’s civil war, a conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people. On Friday, fighting continued between the Christian troops of Maj. Gen. Michel Aoun and the Lebanese Forces militiamen of Samir Geagea.