The incident occurred about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at a restaurant in the 300 block of South Beverly Drive, near Gregory Way, according to Lt. Max Subin of the Beverly Hills Police Department. The type of restaurant was not stated.
Six to eight men between 20 and 30 years old entered the restaurant, made pro-Armenia statements to the employees, destroyed property inside the establishment and attacked employees both inside and in an alley outside, Subin said.
Detectives were investigating the incident as a hate crime, but Subin did not give further information about the victims, who sustained minor injuries and refused medical treatment at the scene.
Surveillance footage is being reviewed to identify the suspects, Subin said.
"The BHPD is investigating this unacceptable act of hate and violence," said Beverly Hills Mayor Lester Friedman. "There is no place in our city for this behavior, and we ask members of the public to please come forward with any information on the suspects in this case."
Tensions in the 1.5-million strong Armenian diaspora in LA have been high since July, when Armenia's neighbor Azerbaijan threatened to blow up a nuclear power plant in Armenia. In October, an estimated 200,000 protesters marched through Beverly Hills in support of Armenia over its conflict with neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan. Large crowds also formed outside CBS Studios to protest, where demonstrators formed a human blockade across the entrance to disrupt traffic.
Armenians locals have protested a decades-long ongoing conflict between former Soviet Republics Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabkh, a disputed mountain area that is known as culturally Armenian.
Turkey and Russia have been drawn into the conflict, with ethnic Armenian people fleeing the area. Many are the family members of people killed in the genocide.
The conflict came to a brief pause on Saturday, after both Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire brokered by Russia. But it did not last. Soon after, however, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of shelling a town in southeastern Armenia, while Azerbaijan claimed Armenian forces did the same in Azeri territory.
— City News Service and Patch staffers Nicole Charky, Kenan Draughorne, and Michael Wittner contributed to this report.