ARMENIANS ORGANIZE ACTION OF PROTEST WITH PLACARDS "NO TO PROTOCOLS," "DON’T BETRAY US" IN LOS ANGELES

Noyan Tapan
Oct 5, 2009

LOS ANGELES, OCTOBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. More than 12,000 Armenian
Americans from throughout California converged on the Beverly Hilton
Hotel to protest the Turkey-Armenia protocols as Armenia President
Serzh Sarkisian met with representatives of Armenian American
organizations to defend his decision to sign the flawed documents. The
protest was organized by the Stop The Protocols Campaign. Blockades
and guardrails contained protesters who held signs proclaiming, "Serzh
Don’t Betray the Armenian People!," "Turkey Accept the Genocide!" and
"No to the Protocols!."

Meanwhile, planes overhead were carrying banners which stated "Stop
Turkish-Armenian Protocols."

During the fourth hour of the protest, several hundred frustrated
demonstrators broke through the barricades and stormed across the
street to the hotel entrance, yelling "votch, votch," stopping traffic
on Wilshire Blvd. Meanwhile ARF Western Region Central Committee member
Hovan Tashdjian, who had just left the meeting with the President,
described a tense Pres.

Sarkisian faced with overwhelming opposition by representatives of
Diasporan organizations, attempting to defend the formation of a
so-called "historical commission" and arguing that the Protocols
would not affect the Karabakh peace process.