Armenian youth organizations in LA commemorate Sumgait pogroms

27.02.2010 14:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Unified Young Armenians organized a protest in front
of the Azerbaijani Consulate in Los Angeles, CA, dated to the 22nd
anniversary of Sumgait massacre. The young Armenians gathered in front
of the CNN premises to make their voices heard and let the world know
about the genocidal campaigns committed by the Azeri government.

The massacre of Armenians in Sumgait (a town located a half an hour
drive away from Baku) took place on February 27-29, 1988. The events
were preceded by a wave of anti-Armenian statements and rallies that
swept over Azerbaijan. Almost the entire area of the town with
population of 250 thousand became a site of unhindered mass pogroms.
Armed with iron rods, stones, axes, knives, bottles and canisters full
of petrol, the perpetrators broke in Armenian houses. There were
dozens of casualties, mostly burnt alive after assaults and torture.
Hundreds of innocent people were wounded and disabled. The story of
Sumgait marked the first entry in a long list of crimes against
humanity and ethnic cleansings of the end of the 20th century.