Photo Illustration by Wally Sarkeesian
Thousands of demonstrators marched Tuesday along Hollywood Boulevard and through the Fairfax neighborhood to mark the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
Draped in red, blue and orange, the sea of demonstrators was led by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to demand that Turkey recognize the 1915 atrocities that led to the systematic killing of 1.2 million Armenians.
“You don’t have to be Armenian to know what a human tragedy looks like,” Garcetti told the crowd in Little Armenia. “This was an Armenian tragedy and a human tragedy, and all of us will say, ‘Never again.’ ”
Every year, protesters lift their voices with a mixed sense of grief and indignation, determined to bring attention to this dark time in Armenian history.
This year, there was a renewed sense of hope in the crowd.
Earlier this week in Armenia, a national protest led to the resignation of the country’s prime minister, a man who had remained in power for more than a decade.
With peaceful protests, road blockades, even late-night clanging of pots and pans, Armenians in the capital of Yerevan brought down Serzh Sargsyan.
Tuesday morning, many said they felt empowered by the events in their home country.
“We are proud and more united than ever — here and in Armenia and all over the world,” said Nune Yenokyan, 31, of Tujunga. “We won’t stop until these crimes are brought to justice.”
The first of two demonstration marches began near Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue in Little Armenia at 10 a.m., and was organized by Unified Young Armenians. In addition to carrying flags and signs denouncing the genocide, marchers also called on the United States government to officially recognize it.
After the rally in Little Armenia, participants marched on a circular route east on Hollywood Boulevard, south on Normandie Avenue, west on Sunset Boulevard then north on Hobart Boulevard. Los Angeles police closed all the affected streets from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The second rally, organized by the Armenian Genocide Committee, began around midday at Pan Pacific Park at 7600 Beverly Blvd., and was scheduled to end at the Turkish Consulate at 6300 Wilshire Blvd. The demonstration route skirted the Grove shopping center, then proceeded west on 3rd Street, south on Fairfax Avenue then west on Wilshire Boulevard.
LAPD officials said all streets affected by the march would be closed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Although the genocide has been chronicled by historians, who often view it as having been a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing, Turkey has denied it occurred, saying the deaths of Armenians were a function of the chaos of World War I, which also claimed Turkish lives.
More than 200,000 people of Armenian descent live in Los Angeles County, making the Southland home to the largest Armenian community outside of Armenia. Glendale Unified School District does not hold classes on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
Despite calls by some legislators — most notably U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) — for the federal government to formally recognize the genocide, U.S. presidents have long refused to do so. President Trump last year continued that tradition in his first year in office, issuing a statement denouncing the deaths as “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th Century” but failing to use the term “genocide.”
Former President Obama, a Democrat, also failed to recognize the genocide during his eight years in office, despite indications during his original campaign that he would do so.
City News Service contributed to this report.