New York Armenians welcome president Sargsyan with protest
05.10.2009 11:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Americans in the eastern United States
formed a
picket line across the street from the New York Palace Hotel, where
Armenia President Serge Sargsyan was scheduled to meet with
representatives of Armenian American organizations to discuss the
controversial Armenia-Turkey protocols.
Blockades and guardrails contained picketers who held signs
proclaiming,
`Don’t compromise Armenia’s future!’ =80=9CArmenians Want Justice!’
`Turkey Accept the Genocide!’ and `No to the Protocols!’

Picketers held small Armenian flags and chanted, `Sargsyan, can’t you
see? You can’t sell our legacy!’ and `No more protocols, No more
lies!’ A large banner directed to Sargsyan declared, `Do Not Betray
the Armenian Nation!’ From the picket’s start the mood was serious and
the demonstrators were indignant and angry. The atmosphere quickly
grew intense with chants of =80=9CTurkey is guilty! Turkey must pay!’.

Sargsyan and meeting attendees were already in the hotel when the
picket began at 4 p.m. The meeting was scheduled to start at 5
p.m. and last for over two hours.
The area inside and outside the hotel was heavily guarded by New York
City police officers and plain-clothed agents, as well as Sargsyan’s
own security guards.
In the hotel, a small group of protesters representing the Association
of Concerned Young Armenian Americans attempted to deliver a letter to
Sargsyan expressing their opposition to the protocols. They were met
with resistance. During a heated discussion with members of the
president’s security team, they demanded to deliver their letter
personally to Sargsyan, saying that too much discussion on the
protocols was occurring behind closed doors and challenging Sargsyan
to honor his earlier promises to hear all opinions on the protocols
during his tour of major diasporan cities.

Security permitted one of the young people to enter the secure area
near the meeting room to deliver the letter, only if the others left
the building. The association’s representative was told to wait until
Sargsyan’s meeting concluded to deliver the letter. After waiting for
over three hours to deliver the message from Armenian American
youth-with no response from Sargsyan -the representative departed with
the letter in hand.

At around 7 p.m., as the picket entered its final minutes, dozens of
picketers moved from the picket area across the street to assemble
directly in front of the Palace Hotel’s entrance, where they chanted
and sang Armenian patriotic songs. Police moved in to force picketers
out of the area and back across the street from the hotel, where they
remained until dispersing, asbarez.com reported.