LOS ANGELES—Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the consulate of Azerbaijan in mid-Wilshire to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of Azeri pogroms of Armenians and to protest against war threats and hate speech by the Azeri government.
The rally, organized by a Los Angeles based youth group, the “Unified Young Armenians,” was attended by several other Los Angeles based organizations, elected officials and individual community members both Armenian and non-Armenian.
The demonstrators chanted: “Azerbaijan, stop hate speech,” “Azerbaijan, hands off Armenia and Karabakh,” “Armenian-American community stands for Armenia.” Addressing the protestors and hundreds of passersby, the speakers voiced their concern at the rising military rhetoric of official Baku and the frequent provocations by the Azeri army against Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
The demonstration outside the Azeri consulate was covered by a number of local TV stations and print media.
