Marchers took to the streets of Mid-City and Hollywood Monday to mark the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
The March for Justice began at the Armenian Genocide Martyr's Square at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue. It ended Monday afternoon outside the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles, where it joined another group of marchers.
The second march, organized by the Armenian Genocide Committee, began at midday at Pan Pacific Park on Beverly Boulevard.
More than 200,000 people of Armenian descent live in Los Angeles County, making Southern California home to the largest Armenian community outside of Armenia.
The march commemorates the victims of the Armenian genocide, which began in 1915 and resulted in the deaths of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in a campaign blamed on the Ottoman Turkish government. The genocide has been chronicled by historians, who often view it as having been ethnic cleansing, but Turkey has denied it occurred, saying the deaths of Armenians was a function of the chaos of World War I, which also claimed Turkish lives.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, and Rep. Dave Trott, R-Michigan, last month introduced a resolution asking Congress to formally recognize the genocide.
"Over 100 years ago, the Ottoman Empire undertook a brutal campaign of murder, rape, and displacement against the Armenian people that took the lives of 1.5 million men, women, and children in the first genocide of the 20th century," Schiff said. "Even today, hundreds of thousands of religious minorities face existential threat from ISIS in Syria and Iraq. It is therefore all the more pressing that the Congress recognize the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide and stand against modern day genocide and crimes against humanity."
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Earlier this month, county supervisors introduced a motion proclaiming April "Armenian History Month."
Road closures prompted by the massive protest kept traffic restricted around The Grove shopping center, the Fairfax District and south to Wilshire Boulevard for much of the day.
