Turkish embassy in Beirut sets wire fence during Genocide rally

 April 24, 2012 - 16:47 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Tens of thousands of Lebanese Armenians gathered outside the Turkish embassy in Rabieh, Metn, burning Turkish flags and calling on Ankara to recognize the Genocide of 1915, The Daily Star reports.

Officials at the Interior Ministry said between 20,000 and 25,000 people took part in the rally that started from the Armenian Orthodox Catholicosate in Antelias, Metn, and ended at the Turkish embassy.

The huge protest prompted the Turkish embassy to request a change of security arrangements in the vicinity of the mission. The crowds outside the embassy were separated by two rows of barbed wire fences and hundreds of riot police. No incidents occurred during the two-and-half rally which ended at 2:30pm.

The protesters chanted anti-Turkish slogans and set at least six Turkish flags on fire.

Organizers managed to keep the situation under control and called for restraint.

Traffic from Antelias to Rabieh was at a standstill as a result of the protest, which saw participation by the country's main Armenian-Lebanese political parties: the Dashnak, Hunchakian and Ramgavar.

Head of the Central Maronite Council, former Minister Wadih Khazen, commemorated the Armenian victims of the genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, comparing their suffering to that which Lebanon has endured in its quest for freedom.