Armenian Genocide: A protest was held near Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenians and their supporters gathered on the streets of Hollywood to commemorate the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, one of the first acts of genocide in the 20th century. "We are recalling the attack on the night of April 24, 1915, when, in Istanbul, the leaders of the Armenian community were executed," Haig Hovsepian, community relations director for Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Western Region said. Hovsepian described the act as "the beginning of years of violence against the Armenian community by Turks". "An estimated 1.2 million were killed between 1915 and 1918, the last days of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Turkey maintains that the deaths were not sanctioned by the government and disputes that a genocide took place," he said. Los Angeles police estimated that the crowd along Fairfax Avenue at about 1,000 protesters, but Hovsepian said he thought it was double or triple that number and growing as the demonstration neared the Turkish Consulate in Hollywood. Thousands of people protest the Armenian genocide in two marches in Hollywood and at the Turkish embassy on Wilshire Blvd in the Miracle Mile. Los Angeles police estimated that 2,500 to 3,000 showed up for the march. "The demonstrations were peaceful with no arrests or traffic disruption," said LAPD spokeswoman Officer Karen Smith.