Hundreds in LA rally to mark 23rd anniversary of bloody pogroms in Azerbaijan

February 26, 2011 - 13:32 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the Azerbaijani consulate in mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of Armenian pogroms in Azerbaijan and to protest against war threats and the hate speech by the Azerbaijani government.

The rally, organized by a local 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 militaristic rhetoric of the official Baku and the frequent provocations by the Azeri army against Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh.

The demonstration outside the Azerbaijani consulate was covered by a number of local TV stations and print media.

The Sumgait pogrom was perpetrated by the authorities of Azerbaijan against the Armenian population of the town of Sumgait in Soviet Azerbaijan during February 1988. On February 27, 1988, mobs consisting of ethnic Azeris formed into groups that went on to attack and kill Armenians both on the streets and in their apartments; widespread looting and a general lack of concern from police officers allowed the situation to worsen. The violence in Sumgait was unprecedented in scope in the post World War II Europe.