SARKISIAN DID NOT ADDRESS DEMONSTRATORS
0/5/protest
12:15 pm | October 05, 2009
Politics
More than 12,000 Armenian Americans from throughout California
converged on the Beverly Hilton Hotel on October 4 to protest the
Turkey-Armenia protocols amid Armenia President Serzh Sarkisian’s
meeting 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.
AsAsbarez.com reports, 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," as large moving vans drove
around the hotel with billboards picturing presidents Sarkisian and
Gul with the slogan "Don’t Betray us."
Prior to the beginning of the community meeting, Pres. Sarkisian’s
delegation stood out on their 12th floor balcony and watched
demonstrators, who called out in hopes that the President would
address them directly.
Pres. Sarkisian chose not to address the people. 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 (no), votch (no)," 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.
Stoptheprotocols.com reports that 200 people answered an immediate
call to action Sunday morning and rallied at the Montebello Armenian
Genocide Memorial in California, forming a human barricade around it
to prevent Serzh Sarkisian from using the monument for a publicity
stunt while in Los Angeles on his tour of the Diaspora.
The people who turned out came hours ahead of a major demonstration
against the Turkey-Armenia protocols set for 3pm at the Beverly Hills
Hilton where Sarksian is holding a banquet in his honor.
The president did not visit the memorial and after three hours the
crowd rallief and headed toward the Beverly hills hotel where thousands
will demonstrate against Sarkisian and the protocols at 3pm today.
Remind that Pres. Sarkisian has embarked on a Diasporan junket to
gain support for the beleaguered Turkey-Armenia Protocols, which have
met with resounding rebuke by Armenians around the world. He has been
met with protests in Paris, New York and Los Angeles, with additional
demonstrations planned in Lebanon and Russia.