HUGE DEMONSTRATION GREETS PRESIDENT SARGSYAN IN LA; PROTESTORS SAY "NO" TO PROTOCOLS
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2009/10/05 | 11:44
Diaspora Politics
A crowd estimated at more than 12,000 gathered outside the Beverley
Hills Hilton in Los Angeles yesterday to protest the visit of RoA
President Serzh Sargsyan and the Armenian-Turkish protocols he says
he will soon sign.
The crowd was a healthy mix of a cross section of the local Armenian
community – students, clergy members, young and old alike. Equipped
with signs and banners calling on President Sargsyan not to sign the
protocols, the boisterous protestors took up positions opposite the
hotel for some four hours.
One particular banner with the words "Do Not Betray" displayed
a photo of a smiling Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Armenian
President Sargsyan shaking hands. There was a heavy police presence
on hand to keep the protestors from crossing the street and gaining
access to the hotel where the president was scheduled to meet with
52 representatives of the community around 4 p.m.
Reports indicate that many of those invited included prominent Armenian
businessmen. President Sargsyan, just as he had done in Paris and
New York, attempted to assuage the concerns of those at the meeting
that the protocols did not threaten the just demands of the Armenian
people; especially in terms of Genocide recognition and reparations
from Turkey. Despite these assurances, community representatives
politely but forcefully argued the opposite; that the protocols
included a number of points detrimental to Armenian national interests.
At around 6:30 p.m. ARF Western Central Committee member Yovan
Tashjian left the meeting and addressed the assemble crowd and
urged the Armenian president to put a halt to the negotiations with
Turkey. The protestors cheered this demand and then started to sing
the national anthem of Armenia, "Mer Hairenik".
(Information provided by the Public Affairs Office of the ARF
U.S. Western Central Committee)