More than 100 protesters marched in Miami Beach on Friday afternoon, calling for an end to fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, Miami Herald reports.
Pro-Armenian protests have taken place in major US cities since the escalation on September 27.
“Once the protests started, it made us feel like we’re not as small as we think we are,” said 21-year-old Vartiter Vardanyan, who lives in Boca Raton. “They’re flooding the streets of L.A. and everything, it’s really empowering.”
The demonstrators, who gathered outside City Hall before marching along Lincoln Road, waved Armenian flags and held signs as they chanted in opposition to Azerbaijan and Turkey, which supports its claim to the disputed territory.
Miami Beach Commissioner Mark Samuelian, who is of Armenian descent, joined the protest in support of an independent Artsakh. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Xavier Suarez was also in attendance.
“We call for recognition,” Samuelian said. “We call for our U.S. government, at all levels, to take action and to protect Armenia [and] to recognize Artsakh.”
As they walked along the tourist-friendly Lincoln Road promenade, demonstrators hoped to call attention to the conflict, an issue they said many Americans know little about.
