LOS ANGELES, CA - More than 12,000 Armenian Americans from throughout California converged on the Beverly Hilton Hotel to protest the Turkey-Armenia protocols as Armenia President Serzh Sargsyan met 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.
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 Sargsyan and Gul with the slogan "Don't Betray us."
Prior to the beginning of the community meeting, Pres. Sargsyan'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. Sargsyan 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, votch," 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. Sargsyan 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.
Pres. Sargsyan 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.
