A saw, a knife, a hammer and metal rods were among weapons that a group of Azerbaijanis were carrying during a peaceful protest at the Azerbaijan’s Consulate in Los Angeles last week, Asbarez reports.
Organized by the Armenian Youth Federation, the protest drew more than 3,000 people who collectively raised their voices and condemned Baku’s aggression against Armenia when Azerbaijani forces brazenly attacked civilian and military targets in Armenia’s Tavush Province beginning in July 12.
The group of 25 to 30 Azerbaijanis instigated violence, throwing full water bottles at peaceful Armenian protesters resulting in clashes. The Los Angeles Police officers at the scene moved the Azerbaijanis to across the street. However, that didn’t stop them from inciting more clashes when some of the bottles hit teenage girls who were there to take part in the peaceful protest.
Since then, Azerbaijani hatred toward Armenians manifested itself in the brutal vandalizing of the Krouzian-Zekarian School and the adjacent Armenian Community Center in San Francisco, which was spray painted with crude and violent graffiti threatening Armenians.
This was part of a worldwide campaign by Azerbaijanis that included the stabbing of an Armenian man in Moscow, damaging and looting Armenian-owned businesses across Russia, burning an Armenian-owned cafe in Kyiv, Ukraine, setting ablaze a vehicle belonging to the Armenian Embassy in Berlin, as well as other acts of violence in Europe and elsewhere targeting Armenians, the latest of which was reported Wednesday in Cologne, Germany where an Armenian-owned lounge was attacked by some 30 Azerbaijani assailants who donned masks and vandalized the establishment.
On Wednesday, Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian (CD-2), in a letter to LA Police Chief Michel Moore, warned of a potential surge in hate crimes against Armenians. In the letter, Krekorian requested that the LAPD command staff meet with him and representatives of the Armenian community “to discuss steps that can be taken to ensure the safety of the community during these times of heightened tension.”
